Here's What Really Happened to Jobs During the Obama Years
Brad Tuttle
Jan 18, 2017
Barack Obama leaves office this week with his legacy on healthcare in serious jeopardy. What will his legacy be on jobs?
Well, he's been lauded for outperforming Ronald Reagan in reducing unemployment after a recession—and bashed for doing too little to stop companies from moving jobs overseas. Economists are divided as to whether he should be credited for steering America to recovery after the Great Recession—or blamed for missing opportunities to create more high-paying jobs for all Americans.
So what's the real deal in terms of President Obama's success (or failure) on jobs? Here are answers to some key questions.
The U.S. added 2.2 million jobs in 2016, on top of 2.7 million jobs gained in 2015, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. In fact, there has been growth of at least 2 million jobs in each of President Obama's last six years in office, and there have been 75 consecutive months of jobs growth, a modern-day record.
As for overall net jobs growth, the White House has frequently cited the fact that "more than 15 million new jobs" have been created under Obama's watch. That figure is only accurate if you look at the number of jobs added since the post-recession economy began picking up steam, in 2010. Obama, of course, became president in January 2009, when the global economy was collapsing and hundreds of thousands of American workers were losing their jobs each month.
When you compare the number of jobs when Obama took office with the total now, the difference is a net gain of 11.3 million jobs. That's good—vastly better than the addition of 2.3 million jobs during George W. Bush's eight years in office—but not as strong as jobs growth when Ronald Reagan (15.9 million jobs) or Bill Clinton (22.9 million jobs) was president.
http://time.com/money/4636761/jobs-barack-obama-presidency/
Brad Tuttle
Jan 18, 2017
Barack Obama leaves office this week with his legacy on healthcare in serious jeopardy. What will his legacy be on jobs?
Well, he's been lauded for outperforming Ronald Reagan in reducing unemployment after a recession—and bashed for doing too little to stop companies from moving jobs overseas. Economists are divided as to whether he should be credited for steering America to recovery after the Great Recession—or blamed for missing opportunities to create more high-paying jobs for all Americans.
So what's the real deal in terms of President Obama's success (or failure) on jobs? Here are answers to some key questions.
The U.S. added 2.2 million jobs in 2016, on top of 2.7 million jobs gained in 2015, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. In fact, there has been growth of at least 2 million jobs in each of President Obama's last six years in office, and there have been 75 consecutive months of jobs growth, a modern-day record.
As for overall net jobs growth, the White House has frequently cited the fact that "more than 15 million new jobs" have been created under Obama's watch. That figure is only accurate if you look at the number of jobs added since the post-recession economy began picking up steam, in 2010. Obama, of course, became president in January 2009, when the global economy was collapsing and hundreds of thousands of American workers were losing their jobs each month.
When you compare the number of jobs when Obama took office with the total now, the difference is a net gain of 11.3 million jobs. That's good—vastly better than the addition of 2.3 million jobs during George W. Bush's eight years in office—but not as strong as jobs growth when Ronald Reagan (15.9 million jobs) or Bill Clinton (22.9 million jobs) was president.
http://time.com/money/4636761/jobs-barack-obama-presidency/
