Last month, Drew Cline, writing at the Josiah Bartlett Center for Public Policy, provided some numbers that reinforce arguments I’ve been making on these pages for years. That if the government just stays out of the way jobs and wages will take care of themselves.
As of July, the average hourly wage for private employment in New Hampshire was $26.22, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics data compiled by the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis.
Drew provides plenty of other data points courtesy of the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
- New Hampshire’s real per capita personal income is up more than $4,000 since the recession.
- Hillsborough County was in the top ten counties in the country for wage growth last year.
- As of August New Hampshire was among the top five states (for wage growth).
- Only 8,004 Granite Staters were working at the minimum wage or less in 2017 (a 48 percent decline from 2016).
- Less than 1 percent of New Hampshire’s working-age population makes the minimum wage or less.
- 49.4 percent of Granite Staters who make the minimum wage or less are between the ages of 16-24.
This year, New Hampshire entered historical territory for jobs and labor force participation. More GraniteStaters are participating in the labor force, and more of them are employed than at any point in the state’s history.
New Hampshire has been on a program of business tax cuts and a hands-off approach to hourly wages for years. Republicans who put their trust in employers and employees have been rewarded with a productive and responsive marketplace and a surplus in tax revenue on top of that.
The Democrat Party answer to this economic bonanza is to mess with it the first chance they get. They have promised to raise taxes on job creators and to use the power of government to meddle with the cost of labor.
The net effect everywhere else this has been tried is the opposite of what New Hampshire is experiencing. Fewer full-time jobs, fewer part-time jobs, decreased labor force, higher unemployment, reduced personal income. Higher welfare burdens for unemployment benefits, Medicaid, and food stamps. A significant strain on dwindling resources which means more and higher taxes.
If you want those things then by all means, vote for Democrats.
Otherwise, Id’ suggest voting Republican on Nov 6th and telling everyone you know what is at stake if they do not do the same.
It’s your economic recovery. Don’t let the Left rob you of it and then rob you again after to pay the high cost of their interference.
