SIM SUPER ELMer
<TOEICリスニング・リーディング特効薬!> SIM音読用英文
 
<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
 

東京SIM外語研究所
tokyosim@tokyo-sim.com

SIMロゴ

▲Page Top
Copyright (C) 2003 Tokyo-SIM. All Rights Reserved.
特定商取引法に基づく表示 会社概要 厚生労働大臣指定講座