By Gina Chon WASHINGTON, (Reuters Breakingviews) - Donald Trump’s campaign dream of a U.S. economic surge is partly in his own hands. Although the 156,000 new jobs reported in August fell short of forecasts, the trend is steady, as it is for GDP growth. Yet the president may soon subject nearly 800,000 children of illegal immigrants, so-called Dreamers, to deportation. That would hit both job growth and the economy.

The unemployment rate ticked up slightly to 4.4 percent last month, the Bureau of Labor Statistics said on Friday, but the labor-force participation rate remained steady at 62.9 percent. For the first eight months of this year, U.S. employers added an average of 170,000 jobs per month, a respectable number. The economy also grew at a faster-than-expected 3 percent annualized pace in the second quarter, boosted by consumer spending and a jump in business investment.

The 3 percent level – exceeded in a few quarters during Barack Obama’s tenure, too – is more like a base case in the Trump administration’s vision, however. And making output and jobs growth sizzle can only be made harder by fulfilling another of the president’s campaign promises, namely purging the country of illegal immigrants.

He could announce as soon as Friday that he is ending Obama’s Dreamers program, which protected children of illegal immigrants from deportation if they were under 31 years old when it was established in 2012. Ten Republican state attorneys general have said that if the White House does not rescind the program by Tuesday, they will file a legal challenge.

More than 91 percent of Dreamers have jobs, according to a study released on Tuesday by FWD.us, the pro-immigration group backed by Facebook Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg and the Center for American Progress. Trump may allow them to stay until their work permits expire. Even then, some 1,400 Dreamers would lose their right to work every business day – some 30,000 employees leaving the workforce per month.

GDP would fall by $433 billion over 10 years, another CAP study suggests, with Texas – now facing the huge task of rebuilding after Hurricane Harvey – losing $6.1 billion a year of economic activity from the exclusion of Dreamer workers.

Zuckerberg and the CEOs of other big tech companies wrote an open letter to Trump on Thursday, emphasizing Dreamers’ contribution to the country. Even ignoring the human element, removing them from the United States would be an avoidable hit to growth.



CONTEXT NEWS

- U.S. President Donald Trump is expected to revoke a Barack Obama executive order that protected almost 800,000 children of illegal immigrants from deportation, Reuters reported on Aug. 31. Trump may let people in the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, known as Dreamers, stay in the United States until their work permits expire. He could announce the decision as early as Sept. 1.

- Separately, the U.S. added 156,000 jobs in August while the unemployment rate rose slightly to 4.4 percent, the Bureau of Labor Statistics said on Sept. 1. Economists surveyed by Reuters expected a gain of 180,000 positions. Average hourly wages rose by 3 cents to $26.39 in August, while the labor-force participation rate remained steady at 62.9 percent. The manufacturing and construction sectors saw the biggest employment gains. Payrolls for June and July were revised lower by 41,000 positions.



(Editing by Richard Beales and Martin Langfield)

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