logo

Have more jobs been created under Democratic presidents than Republican presidents over the past 30 years?

Saturday, February 6, 2021
By Austin Tannenbaum
YES

In recent decades, job growth under Democratic presidents has outpaced the rate under Republican presidents, both in raw numbers and as a percent increase compared to the previous administration. According to Bureau of Labor Statistics data:

  • Under Bill Clinton, the U.S. economy added 18.7 million jobs, a 15.7% gain.
  • Under Barack Obama, the U.S. added 8.9 million jobs, a 6% gain.
  • Under George W. Bush, the U.S. added 5.7 million jobs, a 4.2% gain.
  • In the first three years of Donald Trump’s single term, the country added another 6.6 million jobs, a 4.4% gain.

Employment plummeted in 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic, producing a net loss of nearly three million jobs between January 2017 and January 2021. Trump left office with the lowest annualized job growth numbers since the government began tracking employment in 1929.

This fact brief is responsive to conversations such as this one.
ABOUT THE CONTRIBUTOR
Between 2020 and 2022, under close editorial supervision, Gigafact contracted a group of freelance writers and editors to test the concepts for fact briefs and provide inputs to our software development process. We call this effort Gigafact Foundry. Over the course of these two years, Gigafact Foundry writers published over 1500 fact briefs in response to claims they found online. Their important work forms the basis of Gigafact formats and editorial guidelines, and is available to the public on Gigafact.org. Readers should be aware that while there is still a lot of relevant information to be found, not all fact briefs produced by Gigafact Foundry reflect Gigafact's current methods and standards for fact briefs. If you come across any that you feel are out of date and need to be looked at with fresh eyes, don't hesitate to contact us at support@gigafact.org.
FACT BRIEF BY
facebook
twitter
email
email