<No.648> |
Economists Say Election Uncertainty Slowing US Job Growth |
Business loves certainty
and a new survey
by the National Association for Business Economists
suggests a divisive election season
with no clear outcome
may be giving companies heartburn.
Here’s why,
says NABE spokesman LaVaughn Henry.
"They like to be able to project forward:
'What will be my taxes
next year?
What will be the regulations
I may be facing
the following few years?'
Without a candidate
elected and implementing policy
at a given point in time,
you have increased uncertainty."
Analysts agree
some businesses act more cautiously
in an election year.
But there's a caveat.
We spoke with Bankrate senior analyst Mark Hamrick
on Skype.
"I have a hard time believing that
if one were an employer
and they are seeing sufficient demand
for products or services,
they would hold off
on adding resource or workers
to meet that demand
simply because an election is looming."
Asked to grade the major candidates,
the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget says
neither Donald Trump nor Hillary Clinton's policies address
the most important economic issues.
CRFB President Maya MacGuineas says
both campaigns fail on the issues of debt,
income inequality
and entitlement spending.
"It's certainly a situation
of where we're stuck grading on a curve,
because nobody's anywhere close to an 'A' -
barely anybody would pass, frankly, the tests we would have
for fiscal policy."
Some businesses may be hedging their bets
until November,
but on some issues
Bank of America Sharon Miller sees attitudes split
along gender lines.
"There is some uncertainty.
However, when you look at some of the issues,
that are being discussed during the election,
like minimum wage,
we did find that
women business owners were much more in favor
of raising the minimum wage
and thought that it would have a positive impact on the economy
versus the men that we surveyed."
Employers added only 155,000 jobs
in August.
That's a far cry
from the previous two months,
which saw an average gain of about 270,000 new jobs
between June and July.
Mil Arcega, VOA News, Washington |
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