ECONOMY/JOBS/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT/TRUMP PEOPLE: “In places like Montgomery County, Tex., and Pickens County, S.C., which voted for President Trump by more than 45 percentage points in 2016, the job market surged during the first two years of his administration. Questions remain, though, about how much of the improvement was his doing, and whether the pattern is already in the process of reversing. Data released Wednesday [6-5-19] by the Bureau of Labor Statistics showed that average employment grew by 1.6 percent in 2018 in the 10 percent of places — 1,256 counties — that voted for Mr. Trump most strongly. Job growth did not rise as quickly in counties that supported him by a smaller margin and in counties that voted for Hillary Clinton. Before President Trump took office, employment growth in the counties that favored him by more than 45 percentage points was nearly zero. But almost one year into his presidency, job growth picked up in these places. Although President Trump has often credited himself for the job growth that has taken place in red states, the cause seems most related to deep shifts in the global economy that coincided with the start of his presidency.”
–Quoctrung Bui, “Employment Surged in Counties That Favored Trump Most. How Much Credit Does He Deserve?,” The New York Times online, June 5, 2019