Dick Morris: Rising Manufacturing Wages Boost GOP's Outlook
The federal Bureau of Economic Analysis announced this week that the earning of workers in the durable manufacturing sector rose 12.2 percent compared with the same period last year.
It was the biggest gain of any of the 24 industries tracked by the bureau.
Incomes and benefits for workers in this industry rose by more than $20 billion in the immediate past quarter.
The bureau reported that bonuses paid by auto manufacturers under the new Trump Tax Reform Act in nine states were responsible for about one-fifth of the gain.
The fact that this big increase in wages and benefits has been possible without aggravating inflation nationally is attributable both to increasing worker productivity and the targeted nature of the tax cut.
Also, President Donald Trump’s stand against illegal immigration may have played a role in deterring industries from lowering average wages by hiring illegal immigrants.
It’s worth noting that Trump’s Electoral College majority in 2016 came from the very states reporting the increase in wages — Michigan, Ohio, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania.
The wage increase is bound to help the president solidify his hold on these formerly Democratic industrial states.
Dick Morris is a former adviser to President Bill Clinton as well as a political author, pollster and consultant. His most recent book, “Rogue Spooks,” was written with his wife, Eileen McGann.
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