Uncertainty in federal fiscal policy is creating a tenuous situation for U.S. jobs and the economy.  That’s the assessment of Howard University Professor William Spriggs, Chief Economist for the AFL-CIO:

 “Of course, we have a very unpredictable president and he has not appeared to champion causes that favor job creation so far and doesn’t seem to know how to work with congress…the agenda he has succeeded in moving so far has been to remove protections from workers.”

Spriggs cites the President’s federal hiring freeze and federal budget uncertainty as problems, as well as retail consolidation, with 89,000 retail jobs lost to the U.S. economy since October:

 “This is the one example of the robots taking jobs because it’s the end result of the moving of a lot of lot of retail to e-commerce.  It’s not replacing low-wage jobs with high wage jobs.  Amazon doesn’t pay very well.  So, this isn’t an improvement in the economy.”