Strong Jobs Report, Texas Business Boom, and California Election Delays: Jonathan Williams on The Hugh Hewitt Show

Hugh Hewitt spoke with ALEC President and Chief Economist Jonathan Williams about the recent job creation numbers following the May report, the migration of businesses from high-tax states like New Jersey to low-tax states like Texas, and election security efforts taking place in California.

The conversation began by diving into the new job numbers following the release of the May report, which saw an increase of 172,000 new jobs. Williams expressed optimism about the numbers, highlighting their robust nature and positive impact on corporate profits.

“I think it’s great news,” Williams emphasized. “This is something clearly that surprised many of the prognosticators out there, those of us that follow it closely.”

Hewitt followed up by asking what the breakdown of jobs between the private and public sectors was based on those numbers. Williams confirmed that the job growth is primarily in the private sector, contrasting it with public-sector growth during the Biden administration.

“In Trump 2.0 here, you’ve seen a reduction in the overall federal government workforce as you’ve seen massive improvements when it comes to the private sector,” Williams explained. “Once again, the numbers are not going to be skewed like we saw during the Biden years, when both the GDP numbers—that a lot of that is driven by government spending—as well as the jobs numbers, were driven by some of that public-sector growth.”

Hewitt also mentioned the average tax return increase to $3,804 per taxpayer, up 10%, and asked about its impact on the economy. Williams believed the increase in tax returns indicates a pro-growth tax code with lower rates and less incentive for businesses to leave the U.S. for tax reasons.

“We’ve got the business taxes back to where people are not leaving the United States strictly for tax reasons,” Williams explained. “They’re bringing jobs and more capital back, where we saw that with the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act.”

The conversation then pivoted to the migration of businesses across the states, as Hewitt asked about the movement from high-tax states like New Jersey to low-tax states like Texas.

“Freedom works in states like Texas when they value freedom, when they value lower taxes, limited government, better regulatory policies, and they roll out the welcome mat for businesses,” Williams emphasized. “You contrast that with New Jersey, California, and some other states you mentioned where the businesses there are leaving. You see a radically different philosophy from those states on tax regulation, and it seems like they just don’t want job creators anymore in places like New Jersey, and that’s really a sad state of affairs.”

The conversation finished up with coverage of California and issues tabulating results in recent elections across the state.

“It raises the question in people’s minds,” he said, “if you’ve got another big state like Florida that, several hours after the polls close, can be 99% counted on total ballots, why does it take California weeks and weeks and weeks? It just raises the question of what might be going on.”

Williams further explained the additional risks that come with these concerns.

“I think California’s got to get it together. This is kind of banana republic stuff here to have with an election, where hundreds of thousands of votes were not even tallied in some cases in the past.”