Gary Cohn, director of the White House National Economic Council, essentially conceded in a television interview Friday
that warm February weather and the long-term trajectory of the economy were factors in the latest jobs numbers, while promising that bigger job gains were down the road, owing to the White House’s embrace of C. E.O.s.
While the newest jobs numbers reflect conditions from mid-Febuary, roughly three weeks into the Trump presidency, at
that point he had not yet taken concrete actions that would have a direct impact on the economy.
There’s not a lot of solid evidence that general confidence is a major driver of economic results; surveys of consumer sentiment
and executives’ confidence tend to reflect current economic conditions rather than offer some good predictive information.
It is a matter of years before an intended policy shift might affect the jobs numbers for good or ill, not weeks.
