Last Friday, the 20th of January, saw the inauguration of America’s 45th President, Donald J. Trump. A controversial figure, Trump’s campaign promised to bring manufacturing back to America and look after the American worker, who he felt had been severely let down by the Obama administration.
I’m not here to tell you what I think about Trump. I’m here to tell you something much more relevant to recruitment. This post examines the effect of Trump’s presidency on the UK job market. How will his inauguration directly affect British workers and job-seekers? Let’s find out.
I’m no stock market expert, but here are some intriguing statistics for you:
The Dow Jones, a stock market index which tracks publicly-owned American companies, reached an all-time record of 20,000 today (Wednesday 25th January 2017). This is directly connected to Trump, whose policies are much more business-friendly than Obama’s were. The Dow started off 2016 at a low point of 15, 451, but by the end of the year it came close to the 20,000 mark. According to various sources provided at the bottom of the article, this is because of Trump’s business-related policies. Cutting taxes and regulations for businesses stimulates the economy and encourages more investment.
How, then, does this news from America affect someone in the UK?
Well, the dollar is used in most international transactions, so changes to the American economy affect the rest of the world. As well as this, there are a number of British companies which trade on the US exchange. You can find a comprehensive list of them here.
To put it simply, the UK job market improves when the American stock market is doing well. When stock does well in general, investors are more likely to buy shares in a company. When a company has more investors, they have more money to hire and expand. Thus, they are much more likely to create job openings. There are further complexities that could be addressed here but I’m trying to keep to the bones of the argument.
There are of course, some worries about Trump’s impact, particularly in relation to his stance on international trade. Trump has said many times how he will make America great again. This means putting America first. For you in the UK, depending on how protectionist his international trade policies are, this could be a bad thing.
It is evident already that Trump will not be soft when it comes to making trade deals with other countries. This could mean that deals could be stricter, which probably means more expensive and/or less beneficial for the country dealing with America. Theresa May has said she looks forward to talking about trade with Trump. Only time will tell what the reality of this deal will be.
May, however, isn’t going to just sit there and let Trump make a deal that screws over the UK. They will sit and drink tea and negotiate, so the end result will probably be a fair deal that benefits both sides. Trump’s strong stance on global trade is because of the deals that were already made that did not benefit America. Such deals actually weaken the American economy. This does not mean he will be overly demanding or unrealistic when it comes to negotiations; it simply means he won’t be taken advantage of. Compromising is an unfortunate but necessary component of politics.
Therefore, I wouldn’t worry too much about the upcoming trade deal negotiations that will occur between May and Trump, because if a leader is as strong as May seems to be, then I’m sure something that is good for Britain will be the result.
I’m sure you have heard a lot of doom and gloom about the Trump administration, thanks to the likes of the BBC, but you don’t need to worry. You’ve no doubt seen for yourself how the Remain campaign preached apocalypse about the Brexit decision. It hasn’t officially happened yet, of course, but already their pessimistic predictions are not matched by the relevant numbers and statistics. The same goes for the mainstream narrative on Trump.
The world is entering a populist phase, and globalists don’t like this turn of events, so they will try to manipulate you with eloquent opinion pieces and biased polls.
Don’t let them. Brexit is good for the UK, and so is Trump.
References:
How does the stock market affect the economy?
How does the stock market affect you?
How Donald Trump’s presidency will affect the stock market
The Market and the ‘Trump Effect’
Ralph Acampora on Trump and the stock market
Dow Jones industrial average surpasses 20,000
Copyright Gillian Rixey, Company Jobs Direct Ltd.
by Gillian Rixey
(Gillian is a PhD qualified freelance writer and scholar born in Ireland but currently residing in the United States.)
