Kevin Hassett credits Trump policies as January adds 130K jobs, beating forecasts

WASHINGTON, DC: The January jobs report showed the US economy added 130,000 jobs, far above the 55,000 economists had expected, while the unemployment rate ticked down to 4.3%.

The figures were discussed on MSNBC’s ‘Morning Joe’ in an interview with White House economic adviser Kevin Hassett, director of the National Economic Council.

Hassett argued that the numbers point to a stronger-than-expected labor market under President Donald Trump, saying private-sector growth remained solid even as the administration continued its push to reduce the size of the federal workforce and tighten immigration enforcement.

Kevin Hassett touts strong private-sector job growth

During the interview, Hassett said some Wall Street analysts had predicted the report would be weak due to changes in the labor force.

“And so, uh, what happened is that there are a lot of Wall Street analysts who are, uh, predicting that reduction of the labor force was going to make a bad number.”

“And private sector jobs, which is our main focus right now, because we've been reducing government employment, is there they went up 170,000”, said Hassett talking about employment. Instead, Hassett said private-sector hiring “blew out” expectations, claiming private-sector jobs rose by 170,000.

He emphasized that the administration’s main focus is private-sector job growth as it reduces government payrolls. “They absolutely blew out any expectation whatsoever.”

“So it's really a remarkable strong number. And and if you and to put it in perspective, to get that much job creation, while, uh, you know, that basically the labor force is declining some because people are, uh, are leaving the country and being deported is a really remarkable thing.”

Kevin Hassett defends Trump tariffs, federal spending cuts

He also discussed lower spending on government salaries: “we've reduced government employment, federal government employment by 360,000 or so people.” “That's the lowest share of the labor force that's working for the federal government since 1966. And what that means is that $29 billion this year, less will be spent on government salaries.”

“So there's a heck of a lot of good news in this report.” Hassett used the strong report to defend the administration’s broader agenda, including President Donald Trump’s tariff policies and federal spending reductions.

He also pointed to an increase in factory construction, saying the administration’s policies have encouraged domestic investment. Hassett claimed there are now 70,000 more people building factories because of the tariff-driven push to expand US manufacturing. 

“And we've got 70,000 more people building factories right now because of the tariffs. And so, you know, anyone who would look at the data and cares about America up on Capitol Hill would support the president's tariffs.”

Kevin Hassett rebukes Nikki Haley on economy

Near the end of the segment, Hassett responded to criticism from former UN Ambassador Nikki Haley, who raised concerns about affordability and debt. “I mean, there's an enormous amount of actually challenged information coming out of former Governor Haley's mouth right there.”

“The bottom line is that we just had a Michigan survey about how people are feeling about the economy that skyrocketed, and it skyrocketed because wages are growing so fast. That people look at their wallets and they say, geez, the Trump economy is working.”

Hassett called her remarks wrong, arguing that wages are rising and consumer confidence is improving, while the deficit has fallen by roughly $600 billion over the past year.

“Well, oh my goodness, we just reduced the deficit 600 billion by the most ever this year because of higher growth and tariffs and cutting government spending, cutting the government workers.”

“And so I think Governor Haley was just wrong on every single count. I really was disappointed in what she had to say.”