Excerpt
SUMMARY: July saw 255,000 jobs created and unemployment flat at 4.9%. How would the candidates boost the economy? Clinton seeks major infrastructure projects and a higher minimum wage, while Trump wants business tax cuts to encourage companies to invest in employees. Judy Woodruff speaks to Stephen Moore, senior economic adviser to Donald Trump, and Jared Bernstein, economic adviser to Hillary Clinton.
JUDY WOODRUFF (NewsHour): Today's U.S. jobs report was largely seen as a solid one, and in many respects better than economists had predicted.
For the year so far, the economy is gaining about 185,000 jobs a month. But for many Americans who have seen slow wage growth for years, the recovery doesn't yet feel like one, and both presidential nominees are speaking to that.
Donald Trump has proposed tax cuts across the board, including for the wealthy, as well as new tariffs and escalating battles over trade. Trump will be laying out more about his proposals on Monday, but he told voters in Ashburn, Virginia, this week that his ideas would boost the economy.
DONALD TRUMP (R), Presidential Nominee: This is the third straight quarter that the economy has grown under 2 percent and is the single weakest, weakest of any economic expansion in more than 70 years.
Household incomes are more than $4,000 lower than their levels in the year 2000. Think of it, household incomes — you're now making $4,000 less now than you did 16, 17 years ago. Another one that's very common and out there, people, many people in this room, but people are making, in terms of real wages, less money today than they made 18 years ago. And they're working two jobs in many cases.
JUDY WOODRUFF: For her part, Hillary Clinton has also tried to address economic anxiety and persistent concerns over stagnation. Her plan is quite different. She's been making the case at her rallies for an agenda that includes tax hikes on the wealthiest, a higher minimum wage nationwide, and new tuition aid in higher education.
In Las Vegas yesterday, she joined Senator Harry Reid and called for a big boost in spending on infrastructure.
HILLARY CLINTON (D), Presidential Nominee: We are going to create more good jobs with rising incomes. We're going to have the biggest investment in new jobs that we have had since World War II.
Now, how are we going to do that? Well, number one, we are going to do exactly what Harry said. We are going to have an investment in infrastructure, our roads, our bridges, our tunnels, our ports, our airports.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
HILLARY CLINTON: For every billion dollars, we get 47,500 jobs. And they are mostly good union jobs with a good middle-class income.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
JUDY WOODRUFF: Well, now let's look deeper into what the candidates are proposing, as part of our coverage looking more closely at the issues.
Jared Bernstein is an informal adviser to the Clinton campaign. He was a former economic adviser to Vice President Biden. He's now at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. Stephen Moore is a senior economic adviser to the Trump campaign, and a fellow at the Heritage Foundation. He's a former member of the editorial board of The Wall Street Journal.
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