Unemployment Numbers: Remember When Republicans Thought the Labor Participation Rate Was Important?

The news about black unemployment reaching an all time low has Republicans crowing, but judging from social media, they seem to have forgotten all about that labor participation rate that was supremely important while Barack Obama was in the White House.

The unemployment rate for African Americans fell to 6.8 percent, the lowest ever recorded. We are working hard to bring this rate down even further. @WhiteHouseCEA https://t.co/LyNYIQ4D8s

— Ivanka Trump (@IvankaTrump) January 5, 2018

Unemployment remains at 17 year low 4.1%.
Black unemployment at a record low 6.8%.
.@realDonaldTrump famously said “What have you got to lose?”
Another campaign promise being kept. #maga

— 🇺🇸 ERIC BOLLING 🇺🇸 (@ericbolling) January 5, 2018

.@realDonaldTrump’s growth agenda is working.

➡2 million jobs added in 2017.
➡Unemployment the lowest it’s been in 17 years.
➡African-American unemployment lowest since 1972.
➡Wages grew 2.5% compared with a year ago.

— GOP (@GOP) January 5, 2018

Don’t get me wrong, A low unemployment rate is better than a high unemployment rate. President Trump is entitled to take credit for it as any President takes credit for good economic news. None of that is the issue here.

What bugs me is that only a short while ago, Republican cheerleaders didn’t think a reduction in unemployment was all that. Look at some of the tweets prompted by Barack Obama’s last state of the union speech. A declining unemployment rate wasn’t enough to show economic progress.

So record low for labor participation and stagnant wages, but talking about an economic decline is "peddling fiction." #ok

— Angela McGlowan (@angelamcglowan) January 13, 2016

Consider this: if the labor force participation rate was the same as when .@POTUS took office, the unemployment rate would be 9.4 percent.

— Tom Cotton (@SenTomCotton) January 13, 2016

The labor force participation rate is near an all time low that we have not seen since the 1970’s – 62.8%. #LastSOTU

— U.S. Representative Bill Flores (@RepBillFlores) January 13, 2016

https://twitter.com/BradThor/status/687150275371659264

The labor participation rate has barely budged in the year since Trump was inaugurated, but you won’t hear anyone on the right pointing it out even though everyone

Politics has almost nothing to do with real ideas or facts, at leas not on a consistent basis. Every claim of accomplishment from the blue team must be countered by a contradictory claim from the red team. It’s understandable when it comes from politicians and their staffs but when it comes from commentators and observers in the general public, it’s disheartening.

Every time you repeat a talking point out of blind partisanship you make it harder to hold leaders accountable. I think holding leaders accountable isn’t really the goal of most political junkies these days though. It’s all about the tribe.