Karl W. Smith, Columnist

A Bad Jobs Report Is Not a Reason to Spend More Money

The monthly employment numbers confirm that the economy is slowing down, but more stimulus is unlikely to help — and could make things worse.

September 3, 2021 at 3:30 PM UTC

By Karl W. Smith

Karl W. Smith is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist. Previously, he was vice president for federal policy at the Tax Foundation and assistant professor of economics at the University of North Carolina.

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The U.S. saw a gut-wrenching decline in new jobs created in August: just 235,000, down from an average of more than 1 million in both June and July. Quite aside from what it means for the future course of U.S. economic policy, one political consequence of the disappointing employment report seems clear: House Democrats will be emboldened in their demands that Senate centrists support their $3.5-trillion budget plan.

Senators Kyrsten Sinema and Joe Manchin have already infuriated progressives by announcing that they are not only opposed to the House budget bill, they also have no interest in even negotiating. Manchin specifically cited rising inflation as reason for fiscal restraint.