The latest economic numbers, including the most recent jobs report, demonstrate how tax and regulatory reform are revitalizing our economy and creating new opportunities and better wages for families in West Michigan and across the nation. In fact, the latest jobs report was so good, the New York Times “ran out of words to describe how good the jobs numbers” were. Below are some examples of the positive economic news

• The economy added 223,000 jobs and unemployment fell to its lowest level since 2000. The U.S. economy added 223,000 jobs in May as U.S. companies continued their hiring spree, according to the Labor Department’s monthly jobs report released Friday. The unemployment rate fell to 3.8 percent, the lowest since 2000. … Hiring was strong across the board with retail and health care leading the surge in May. Blue-collar jobs have also picked up in the past year as rising oil prices and the global economic rebound are driving more demand for construction and manufacturing workers. The United States has gained 95,000 manufacturing jobs and 110,000 construction jobs from the start of the year through May. Hiring in manufacturing is off to the best start this year since 2011. (The Washington Post on June 1, 2018)

• 35% of small businesses owners raised wages last month, an all-time high. The good news is not confined to the fact that there is an abundance of jobs. Wages are rising, too. For the first time since the National Federation of Independent Business began surveying about wages in 1986, 35 percent of small business owners increased compensation last month. (The Washington Examiner on June 3, 2018)

• The manufacturing report card is as good as we have seen in possibly the last two decades. On Wednesday, the Federal Reserve’s Beige Book on economic activity went out of its way to highlight manufacturing. “Manufacturing shifted into higher gear, with more than half of the Districts reporting a pickup in industrial activity and a third of the Districts classifying activity as ‘strong.’ ” That’s as good a report card as we have seen in manufacturing in more than a decade — maybe two. (New York Post on June 2, 2018)

• Economists are raising growth expectations for the second quarter. Friday’s economic data provided evidence the U.S. economy is heading into the second half of 2018 with strong momentum. Nonfarm payrolls beat expectations while manufacturing and construction indexes both showed accelerated growth. Economists are slowly ratcheting up expectations for growth through the end of the year, with widely followed measures putting the second quarter at between 3.6 percent and 4.8 percent. (CNBC.com on June 1, 2018)

Despite doom and gloom rhetoric from Democrats, the Republican pro-growth agenda is boosting economic growth, improving the environment for private sector job creation, and delivering results for hardworking Americans.