Report: Job Losses Under Trump Are The Worst Of Any American President On Record
JakeThomas
CNN reports that President Donald Trump’s job losses are the worst of any president, based on records that date back to World War II.
The US economy is down 4.7 million jobs since January 2017 when Trump took office, according to the Labor Department.
The August jobs report released Friday showed employers added back about 1.4 million jobs, bringing the unemployment rate to 8.4%. That is still well short of what would be needed to give Trump a positive jobs record by November 3.
CNN noted that “The only other President in the last 80 years to own an overall loss in jobs between his inauguration and the following Election Day was George W. Bush in 2004” due to “the so-called "jobless recovery" after the recession sparked by the dot-com bust.”
And while shutdowns associated with the coronavirus pandemic caused the bulk of job losses under Trump, “there are many who question whether the Trump administration's handling of the pandemic is responsible for deeper economic damage than would have taken place had the White House taken a more active role in fighting coronavirus.”
As for his pre-pandemic record?
[D]ata show that his administration's job gains before the pandemic were only average compared with predecessors.
There were 6.8 million jobs added between the inauguration and February of this year, a 5% gain from when Trump took office. Measured by percentage, that's only the 11th best record out of the last 20 presidential terms. (Percentage gain is the best way to take into account the population growth over the last 80 years.)
