PERSPECTIVE FROM THE 19^TH HOLE: This is the title I chose for my personal blog, which is meant to give me an outlet for one of my favorite crafts – writing – plus use an image from my favorite sport, golf. Out of college, my first job was as a reporter for the Daily Astorian in Astoria, Oregon, and I went on from there to practice writing in all of my professional positions, including as a Congressional press secretary in Washington, D.C., an Oregon state government manager in Salem and Portland, press secretary for Oregon’s last Republican governor (Vic Atiyeh), and a private sector lobbyist. This blog also allows me to link another favorite pastime – politics and the art of developing public policy – to what I write.

It always has perplexed me that the “jobs issue” does not rank higher on political priority lists both Democrats and Republicans, especially Democrats.

Well, for some Republicans, jobs seem to matter. But, to hear Ds talk, they don’t even recognize that having a job is critical in this country and, as well, is a key answer to many of the social problems we face.

Consider this story that ran on Hill.com late this week.

“The U.S. economy added a robust 313,000 jobs in February, the fastest pace of growth since summer of 2016, as tax cuts stoked the tightening labor market.

“The unemployment rate was 4.1 percent for the fifth straight month, the lowest level since December 2000, when it was 3.9 percent, the Labor Department reported on Friday.

“February jobs, which ran well above estimates, posted the best performance since July 2016 and were up from 239,000 jobs in January.

“Job gains have averaged 242,000 over the last three months.

“The boost in jobs last month likely reflects a growing confidence among businesses that the tax cuts will help accelerate growth this year.”

My view is that those who want to be elected should run on jobs, either helping the private sector create them or taking credit for job and economic growth that stem from political actions.

Consider the recent tax reform action in Congress. It clearly has produced jobs in this country and is destined to produce even more.

The latest positive jobs growth comes amid President Trump’s plan to levy global steel and aluminum tariffs that congressional Republicans worry could upend the economic momentum from the tax package.

The Trade Partnership, a non-partisan pro-trade group, estimates that the tariffs will generate more than 33,000 new metals jobs, but ultimately lead to an overall loss of 146,000 jobs. So, based on job losses, the tariffs represent a step backward.

House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Kevin Brady (R-Texas), an architect of the tax plan, credited the newly enacted law with bolstering the job market and economic growth. But he, like others, has expressed concern about the president’s tariff plan.

“Now is the time to build off the strong economic momentum of the president’s tax cuts through sound trade policy,” Brady said.

So, if the “jobs issue” is paramount – as I believe it is – political leaders should capitalize on the good news and commit to making further efforts to ease creation of even more jobs.

As I wrote earlier, having a job represents one answer to a series of social problems facing this country.  That was one motivation for us back when I served as deputy director in the Oregon Economic Development Department.  Helping the private sector create jobs was our number one priority, but we also knew that having a job was a key to living well and healthy.