Opinion

Trump’s economic wins cancel out Biden’s losses in latest jobs report

Payrolls surge 130,000 while unemployment drops to 4.3% and wages grow

By Peter St. Onge , E.J. Antoni Fox News

Published February 20, 2026 7:00am EST

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Wage growth is 'key' in January jobs report, Ari Fleischer says

An 'All-Star' Panel analyzes the January jobs report and a recent House vote that passed the SAVE America Act on 'Special Report.'

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The "experts" were wrong yet again as the January jobs report smashed expectations with every metric beating forecasts. 

Payrolls were up a whopping 130,000, almost twice what the economy needs to cover population growth. Even better, the labor force grew by almost 400,000 as more people decided to look for work and the number of people saying they were employed jumped by more than half a million. That was enough to force the unemployment rate back down to 4.3%.

There was more good news on the workweek. Hours worked rose, which predicts future hiring. It’s also a result of people exchanging multiple part-time jobs for better paying full-time work. Sure enough, we saw a 450,000 drop in part-timers who can't find full-time work, while dreaded U-6 underemployment (which even includes people who've given up on finding a job altogether) crashed by 600,000 people.

Even manufacturing rose, hopefully breaking a trend that started three years ago in the middle of the Biden administration. Construction jumping by 33,000 last month, driven by factory development. This trend could continue as factory building........

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