Donald Trump presidential campaign, 2016/Labor and employment

Donald Trump announced his presidential run on June 16, 2015.

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The overview of the issue below was current as of the 2016 election.
Throughout the 2016 presidential campaign, voters named the economy and jobs as the "most important" problems facing America. Job growth remained a top priority for Americans even as the unemployment rate in the U.S. returned to pre-recession levels. In October 2009, after nearly 9 million jobs were eliminated and following a 44 percent decrease in job openings during the Great Recession, the rate of unemployment reached 10 percent. Starting in October 2015 and throughout the 2016 presidential campaign season, unemployment hovered close to 5 percent.

In 2016, the presidential candidates focused less on the unemployment rate, and more on "bringing back" jobs that have been outsourced, particularly in the manufacturing sector. Hillary Clinton called for investment in American infrastructure as a means of creating "good-paying" jobs and increasing wages. Donald Trump's economic plan called for trade, tax, energy, and regulatory reform to make America the "best place in the world to get a job."

See what Donald Trump and the 2016 Republican Platform said about labor and employment.

CANDIDATE SUMMARY

Trump previously contended that the U.S. could not raise the minimum wage and still compete with the rest of the world, but he also proposed raising the federal minimum wage to $10.

He said any increase in the minimum wage should be done at the state level because states compete with each other.

Trump said he would bring jobs back from China, Japan, and Mexico.

Trump called for six weeks of paid maternity leave.

Trump on labor and employment

• On September 15, 2016, Trump revealed an economic plan which he said would create 25 million new jobs and grow the economy at an annual rate of at least 3.5 percent. Describing his plan in a speech before the Economic Club of New York as “the most pro-growth, pro-jobs, pro-family plan put forth perhaps in the history of our country,” Trump said, “My economic plan rejects the cynicism that says our labor force will keep declining, that our jobs will keep leaving and that our economy can never grow as it did once before.” The plan includes reductions in non-defense spending, lower taxes, penalties for companies that move overseas, fewer environmental regulations, and a renegotiation of NAFTA.

• On September 13, 2016, Trump called for six weeks of paid maternity leave. He said, “our plan offers a crucial safety net for working mothers whose employers do not provide paid maternity leave. This solution will receive strong bipartisan support … And we will be completely self-financing.” Trump campaign officials told The Washington Post that paid maternity leave would be paid for by “savings achieved by eliminating fraud in the unemployment insurance program.”

• On July 27, 2016, Donald Trump said that he “would like to raise it [the federal minimum wage] to at least $10.” Trump also said that “states should really call the shots” on setting a minimum wage. According to The Wall Street Journal, “In calling for a federal wage increase to $10, Mr. Trump is putting himself more in line with President Barack Obama and other Democrats, including his opponent, Hillary Clinton.”

• New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie said on July 20, 2016, that Trump was considering requesting civil service laws be changed if he was elected president to make it easier to remove holdovers from the previous administration. “It’s called burrowing. You take them from the political appointee side into the civil service side, in order to try to set up ... roadblocks for your successor, kind of like when all the Clinton people took all the Ws off the keyboard when George Bush was coming into the White House,” Christie said.

• In an interview with NBC’s Chuck Todd which aired on May 8, 2016, Trump discussed eliminating the federal minimum wage. He said, "I don't know how people make it on $7.25 an hour. Now, with that being said, I would like to see an increase of some magnitude. But I'd rather leave it to the states. Let the states decide. Because don't forget, the states have to compete with each other.”

• At the fourth Republican primary debate on November 2015, Donald Trump said he opposed raising the minimum wage. He said, "People have to go out, they have to work really hard and have to get into that upper stratum. But we can not do this [raise minimum wage] if we are going to compete with the rest of the world. We just can't do it."

• During the announcement of his presidential bid on June 16, 2015, Trump claimed, "I will be the greatest jobs president that God ever created. I'll bring back our jobs from China, from Japan from Mexico from so many places. I'll bring back our jobs and I'll bring back our money."

• In 2011, while appearing on FOX's "The O'Reilly Factor," Trump said Scott Walker's approach to unions in Wisconsin was appropriate for that state. Trump explained, "I think that he is maybe right for his state. I think it doesn't necessarily apply to all states. You know, I have had great relationship over the years with unions. We've had collective bargaining. I have become very wealthy. I have dealt with unions because, as you know, New York is largely unions. You are dealing with them. I have great friends that are in unions and heads of unions. So I haven't had the same difficulty and problem. But I think you have to do what's right for your area."
• Read what other 2016 presidential candidates said about labor and employment.

The 2016 Republican Party Platform on labor and employment

“ Workplace Freedom for a 21st Century Workforce The greatest asset of the American economy is the hard-working American. That is why our first priority is getting people back to work by fostering the kind of growth that creates jobs. That overarching goal unites all the sections of this platform. It runs through our commitments on education and workforce development. It underlies our approach to welfare reform, regulatory reform, and our determination to advance the kind of trade agreements that multiply opportunities for workers here at home. It also impels us to challenge the anachronistic labor laws that limit workers’ freedom and lock them into the workplace rules of their great-grandfathers. Instead of facilitating change, the current Administration and its agents at the National Labor Relations Board are determined to reverse it. They are attacking the franchise model of business development, which is essential to the flexibility and creativity of the new economy. They are wielding provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act from the 1930s, designed to fit a manufacturing workplace, to deny flexibility to both employers and employees. They have repealed union transparency rules that allowed members to discover what was being done with their dues. They have outlawed alternatives to unions even when they were favored by the workers. Their Project Labor Agreements discriminate against the overwhelming majority of workers by barring them from jobs on taxpayer-funded projects. Their patronizing and controlling approach leaves workers in a form of peonage to the NLRB. We intend to restore fairness and common sense to that agency. Technology has already created jobs that did not exist fifteen years ago, and today’s workers need flexibility and family-friendly options to make the most of them, especially portability in pension plans and health insurance. We intend to encourage those trends by bringing labor law into the 21st century. It should encourage cooperation between management and workers, not conflict. All workers, including union members, must be free to accept raises and rewards without veto power from union officials. All unionized workers should be able to find out what is going on in their union trust funds and in their executive compensation. We support the right of states to enact Right-to-Work laws and call for a national law to protect the economic liberty of the modern workforce. All Americans deserve the opportunity to pursue their American dream free from discrimination. Clear nondiscrimination policies ensure all employees have the chance to succeed based solely on their merits. These policies are vital to creating an inclusive, innovative, and competitive workforce. Republicans believe that the employer- employee relationship of the future will be built upon employee empowerment and workplace flexibility. We therefore endorse employee stock ownership plans that enable workers to become capitalists, expand the realm of private property, and energize a free enterprise economy. Minimum wage is an issue that should be handled at the state and local level ” —2016 Republican Party Platform

Recent news

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Donald Trump presidential campaign, 2016/Labor and employment - Google News

See also

• Donald Trump
• Donald Trump presidential campaign, 2016