Stephen Moore, President Donald Trump’s pick for the Federal Reserve, said Tuesday the biggest problem to the US economy over the years is the decline in “male earnings.”
“The biggest problem I see in the economy over the last 25 years is what has happened to male earnings – for black males and white males as well. They’ve been declining and that is, I think, a big problem,” Moore said during an interview with CNBC’s “Squawk Box.”
He continued: “Look I want everybody’s wages to rise, of course, but you know, people are talking about women’s earnings – they’ve risen. The problem, actually, has been the steady decline in male earnings, and I think we should pay attention to that because I think that has very negative consequences for the economy and for society.”
Data collected by the Department of Labor shows median earnings have increased more rapidly for women than men over the last 25 years, but wages have gone up for both those groups over that time frame. Much of the political conversation in recent years has been about the disparity in pay for men and women doing the same or similar work, rather than generally.
Moore, a conservative economic commentator and former Trump campaign adviser, has been under scrutiny over columns he wrote decades ago dismissing women’s participation in professional sports and specifically attacking women athletes over pay, first surfaced last week by CNN’s KFile.
As a writer for the conservative National Review, Moore asserted that women should be banned from refereeing, announcing or beer vending at men’s college basketball games. He also criticized female athletes who advocated for pay equality, complaining that they wanted “equal pay for inferior work.”
In an email to CNN’s KFILE last week, Moore said, “This was a spoof. I have a sense of humor.”
During a radio interview last Tuesday, Moore compared himself to Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, whose confirmation last year was marked by allegations he had committed sexual assault as a teenager. In one interview he said that reporters covering him at various news outlets – including CNN – are “pulling a Kavanaugh against me.”
The White House is sending conflicting signals on Moore’s nomination, with press secretary Sarah Sanders saying the White House is reviewing the writings resurfaced by CNN’s KFILE, and National Economic Council director Larry Kudlow saying hours later that their nominee still has their full support.
Meanwhile, Moore said last week he would back out of the process if he becomes a political “liability,” according to the Wall Street Journal.
CNN’s Donna Borak contributed to this report.
