Blue-Collar Jobs Boom

In blue-collar job sectors, companies are hiring at the fastest rate since 1984, especially in areas that voted "heavily" for Donald J. Trump in 2016, per Brookings Institution data.

Rural areas experienced strong job growth in the first quarter of this year, outpacing other, larger metros. While President Trump and his advisers claim that the recent economic growth proves the strength of its agenda ("tax cuts, deregulation and protectionist trade policies,") Brookings senior fellow Mark Muro explains, "Very little of the favorable economic shift likely owes to President Trump's erratic flailing and bluster,” adding, "the present surge is a continuation of gradual economic improvement that not only began during the Obama years but directly continues trends in the last year of the previous administration," The Washington Post reports. Today's economy averages fewer jobs added per month than during the second term of President Barack Obama.

Blue-collar jobs are growing at their fastest rate in more than 30 years, helping fuel a hiring boom in many small towns and rural areas that are strong supporters of President Trump ahead of November's midterm elections. Jobs in goods-producing industries — mining, construction and manufacturing — grew 3.3 percent in the year preceding July, the best rate since 1984, according to a Washington Post analysis.

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