Having refused to take any blame for the wreckage their party inflicted on the economy during the lost decade of the '00s, Republicans are already taking credit for an uptick in jobs. Brian Patrick, an aide to Rep. Eric Cantor, sent an email to reporters this morning:
An aide to House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, Brian Patrick, emailed reporters this morning:
THERE ARE THE JOBS: Republicans Prevent Massive Tax Increase, Economy Begins to Improve: U.S. companies plan to hire more workers in the coming months amid growing optimism over the economy, a quarterly survey released Monday showed, providing further evidence that the jobs market is turning around. In the fourth-quarter poll of 84 companies by the National Association for Business Economics found 42% of companies interviewed, ranging from manufacturing to finance, expect to boost jobs in the six months ahead. That's up from 29% in the first three months of 2010. Only 7% in the latest survey predict they will shed jobs in the coming six months, down from 23% at the start of last year.
What the NABE said:
A majority of respondents anticipate no increase or decrease in investment spending or employment in response to new tax policies, suggesting business decisions are being driven by the fundamentals of an improving economy. ...
Employment continues to improve, with 34% of firms reporting larger workforces compared to only 13% a year ago. The share of firms cutting jobs shrank, from an average of 13% over the past three quarters to 6% currently. The current NRI is the highest level it has been since 1998. The hiring outlook for the next six months also looks more robust—42% of respondents indicated their firms will be increasing employment, up from 39% last quarter and 29% in January 2010. The employment outlook NRI hit a 12-year high.
Yes, the NABE reported, as it has for more than a year, a steady-but-slow improvement in the economy. Just as it reported in October 2010:
Job creation registered its third positive quarterly reading in a row. The percent of firms shedding or planning to shed workers has fallen substantially over the past year. Job creation trends are holding steady at healthy levels. The employment expectations NRI was at its highest level since 2006.
Just as it reported in July:
Job creation trends continued to improve, with a second quarter of net positive payroll gains. The percentage of firms increasing payrolls increased to 31%—a dramatic increase versus a year ago when only 6% were seeing hiring gains. The percentage of firms cutting jobs continued to move lower—from 36% a year ago to 14% this July. The share of respondents expecting their firms to add employees over the coming six months rose to 39%, the highest level of hiring intentions since January 2008.
One can take issue with how strongly any of those surveys have reflected actual growth in job creation given that more than 14 million Americans are still officially out of work and a lot more than that are actually jobless or working less than the full-time hours they want. But what did Rep. Cantor say about those previous positive surveys from NABE before the Republicans had been in office for 19 days? Oh yeah: crickets. As Steve Benen says: "Even by the standards of the most shameless hack, this is farcical. Worse, it's part of a growing pattern."
