Why It’s So Difficult for Biden to Tout Jobs Numbers Win: Lawless LIVE
Why It’s So Difficult for Biden to Tout Jobs Numbers Win: Lawless LIVE
On Friday, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics announced that the country added 431,000 jobs in March, after adding 504,000 and 750,000 in January and February respectively.
“The obvious critique is that this is a mistake, and that the administration should be highlighting the good things that they’ve been able to do, despite the fact that they’re constrained by a lot of economic problems that they really can’t control and that are beyond their ability to manage on a day-to-day basis — like inflation,” said Lawless of the Biden Administration not highlighting the positive news more.
Lawless then explained what she sees as the rationale, from an academic perspective.
“The problem with this -- and there are lots of studies in political science and psychology -- is that it’s difficult for people to imagine a counterfactual,” said Lawless. “So what would happen is Biden would have to make the case that things would be so much worse if the jobs numbers weren’t where they are and that things would be so much worse if we had fewer vacancies and people were looking for jobs.”
“That’s not to say it’s not worth a shot, but it it is difficult to get people to feel enthusiastic when it’s contingent on making them imagine something else,” she said.