thumb|right|400px|Annualized change in non-farm employment over each presidency from 1939 to 2023. Democrats are in blue and Republicans in red.
thumb|right|400px|Job growth by U.S. president, measured as cumulative percentage change from month after inauguration to end of term
Politicians and pundits frequently refer to the ability of the president of the United States to "create jobs" in the U.S. during his term in office.
The numbers are most often seen during the election season or in regard to a president's economic legacy. The numbers typically used and most frequently cited by economists are total nonfarm payroll employment numbers as collected by the Bureau of Labor Statistics on a monthly and annual basis. The BLS also provides numbers for private-sector non-farm employment and other subsets of the aggregate.
Among the presidents from Jimmy Carter to Donald Trump, Bill Clinton created the most jobs at 22.9 million, Bill Clinton also had the largest cumulative percentage increase in jobs at 20.1%. This computation treats the base month as the December before the month of inauguration and last month as December of the final full year in office. Using the month after inauguration as the base month as shown in the accompanying diagram, the top four (out of these seven) presidents in terms of cumulative job creation percentage are Clinton (D), Reagan (R), Carter (D), and Obama (D).
Methodology
The jobs numbers are reported as part of the "Monthly Employment Situation Report" from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The widely publicized "job creation" number is a net figure, computed as jobs created less jobs lost during the survey month. Estimates are generated via the "Establishment Survey", also known as the payroll survey or Current Employment Statistics (CES) program. The Establishment Survey as of May 2020 included "approximately 145,000 businesses and government agencies representing approximately 697,000 worksites." The Establishment Survey publishes jobs, hours, and earnings estimates at varying levels of detail (nation, state, metro area) and for different industries.
The sample establishments are drawn from private non-farm businesses such as factories, offices, and stores, as well as federal, state, and local government entities. Employees on non-farm payrolls are those who received pay for any part of the reference pay period (which includes the 12th of the month), including persons on paid leave. Further, BLS explains that: "The CES employment series are estimates of nonfarm wage and salary jobs, not an estimate of employed persons; an individual with two jobs is counted twice by the payroll survey. The CES employment series excludes employees in agriculture, private households, and the self-employed." These monthly job counts are revised (sometimes by 20% or more) within 90 days to reflect additional data, seasonal adjustment models, and annual adjustments resulting from unemployment insurance filings. Figures are seasonally adjusted, which removes from the series the effects of normal variation from recurring events within a year, such as holidays and weather changes, and helps reveal underlying economic trends.
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Job creation by president
! Carter
! Reagan
! G.H.W. Bush
! Clinton
! G.W. Bush
! Obama
! Trump
! Biden
|-
| Total jobs added (millions)
Job creation lists
By four-year presidential term
Numbers listed from 1941 and onward are Bureau of Labor Statistics data of nonfarm jobs (in thousands), and are shown from the year beginning and ending each presidential term. The monthly statistics are quoted from January, as U.S. presidents take office at the end of that month.
{| class="wikitable sortable sticky-table-col1 sticky-table-head" style="background:#E6E6FA; text-align:right"
!U.S. president
!Party
!Term years
!Start jobs
!End jobs
!data-sort-type="number" | Created
!data-sort-type="number" | % change
!data-sort-type="number" | Avg. annual increase
|- style="background:#ffcccc"
|Harding/Coolidge
|R
|1921–1925
| 25,000 **
| 29,500 **
| + 4,500 **
| +18.00% **
| +4.23% **
|- style="background:#ffcccc"
|Calvin Coolidge
|R
|1925–1929
| 29,500 **
| 32,100 **
| + 2,600 **
| +8.81% **
| +2.13% **
|-
|- style="background:#ffcccc"
|Herbert Hoover
|R
|1929–1933
| 32,100 **
| 25,700 **
| -6,400 **
| -19.94% **
| -5.41% **
|-
|Franklin D. Roosevelt
|D
|1933–1937
| 25,700 **
| 31,200 **
| + 5,500 **
| +21.40% **
| +4.97% **
|-
|Franklin D. Roosevelt
|D
|1937–1941
| 31,200 **
| 34,481
| + 3,280 **
| +10.52% **
| +2.53% **
|-
|Franklin Roosevelt
|D
|1941–1945
|34,481
|41,895
| + 7,414
| +21.50%
| +5.00%
|-
|Franklin D. Roosevelt/Truman
|D
|1945–1949
|41,895
|44,668
| + 2,773
| +6.62%
| +1.61%
|-
|Harry Truman
|D
|1949–1953
|44,668
|50,144
| + 5,476
| +12.26%
| +2.93%
|- style="background:#ffcccc"
|Dwight D. Eisenhower
|R
|1953–1957
|50,144
|52,887
| + 2,743
| +5.47%
| +1.34%
|- style="background:#ffcccc"
|Dwight D. Eisenhower
|R
|1957–1961
|52,887
|53,683
| + 796
| +1.51%
| +0.87%
|-
|Kennedy/Lyndon B. Johnson
|D
|1961–1965
|53,683
|59,582
| + 5,899
| +10.99%
| +2.64%
|-
|Lyndon B. Johnson
|D
|1965–1969
|59,582
|69,439
| + 9,857
| +16.54%
| +3.90%
|- style="background:#ffcccc"
|Richard Nixon
|R
|1969–1973
|69,439
|75,617
| + 6,178
| +8.90%
| +2.15%
|- style="background:#ffcccc"
|Nixon/Ford
|R
|1973–1977
|75,617
|80,690
| + 5,073
| +6.71%
| +1.66%
|-
|Jimmy Carter
|D
|1977–1981
|80,690
|91,033
| +10,343
| +12.82%
| +3.06%
|- style="background:#ffcccc"
|Ronald Reagan
|R
|1981–1985
|91,033
|96,372
| + 5,339
| +5.86%
| +1.44%
|- style="background:#ffcccc"
|Ronald Reagan
|R
|1985–1989
|96,372
|107,161
| +10,789
| +11.20%
| +2.69%
|- style="background:#ffcccc"
|George H. W. Bush
|R
|1989–1993
|107,161
|109,795
| + 2,634
| +2.46%
| +0.61%
|-
|Bill Clinton
|D
|1993–1997
|109,795
|121,368
| +11,573
| +10.54%
| +2.54%
|-
|Bill Clinton
|D
|1997–2001
|121,368
|132,699
| +11,331
| +9.34%
| +2.26%
|- style="background:#ffcccc"
|George W. Bush
|R
|2001–2005
|132,699
|132,779
| + 80
| +0.06%
| +0.02%
|- style="background:#ffcccc"
|George W. Bush
|R
|2005–2009
|132,779
|134,066
| + 1,287
| +0.97%
| +0.24%
|-
|Barack Obama
|D
|2009–2013
|134,066
|135,263
| + 1,197
| +0.90%
| +0.22%
|-
|Barack Obama
|D
|2013–2017
|135,263
|145,636
| + 10,373
| +7.67%
| +1.86%
|- style="background:#ffcccc"
|Donald Trump
|R
|2017–2021
|145,636
|142,913
| - 2,720
| -1.87%
| -0.47%
!President
!Political party
!Length of presidency
!Nonfarm employment at the start of presidency (in thousands)
!Nonfarm employment at the end of presidency (in thousands)
!Annual percentage change in nonfarm employment
|-
| Franklin D. Roosevelt (data available for 1939–1945 only)
| style="background:#B0CEFF" | Democratic
| 1933–1945
| 29,923 (for January 1939)
| 41,446
| 5.35% (annual average from January 1939 to April 1945)
|-
| Harry S. Truman
| style="background:#B0CEFF" | Democratic
| 1945–1953
| 41,446
| 50,144
| 2.49%
|-
| Dwight D. Eisenhower
| style="background:#FFB6B6" | Republican
| 1953–1961
| 50,144
| 53,683
| 0.86%
|-
| John F. Kennedy
| style="background:#B0CEFF" | Democratic
| 1961–1963
| 53,683
| 57,255
| 2.30%
|-
| Lyndon B. Johnson
| style="background:#B0CEFF" | Democratic
| 1963–1969
| 57,255
| 69,439
| 3.80%
|-
| Richard Nixon
| style="background:#FFB6B6" | Republican
| 1969–1974
| 69,439
| 78,619
| 2.25%
|-
| Gerald R. Ford
| style="background:#FFB6B6" | Republican
| 1974–1977
| 78,619
| 80,690
| 1.08%
|-
| Jimmy Carter
| style="background:#B0CEFF" | Democratic
| 1977–1981
| 80,690
| 91,033
| 3.06%
|-
| Ronald Reagan
| style="background:#FFB6B6" | Republican
| 1981–1989
| 91,033
| 107,161
| 2.06%
|-
| George H. W. Bush
| style="background:#FFB6B6" | Republican
| 1989–1993
| 107,161
| 109,794
| 0.61%
|-
| Bill Clinton
| style="background:#B0CEFF" | Democratic
| 1993–2001
| 109,794
| 132,698
| 2.40%
|-
| George W. Bush
| style="background:#FFB6B6" | Republican
| 2001–2009
| 132,698
| 134,055
| 0.13%
|-
| Barack Obama
| style="background:#B0CEFF" | Democratic
| 2009–2017
| 134,055
| 145,612
| 1.04%
|-
| Donald Trump
| style="background:#FFB6B6" | Republican
| 2017–2021
| 145,612
| 142,913
| -0.51%
|-
| Joe Biden
| style="background:#B0CEFF" | Democratic
| 2021–2025
| 142,913
| 159,053
| 3.1%
|-
|}
For information on the United States public debt divided by gross domestic product by presidential term, see National debt by U.S. presidential terms
Graphs and data
The Federal Reserve Economic Data (FRED) database contains the total nonfarm employment level. A graph with a simple download of data on jobs by month since the late 1930s is available here:
- Federal Reserve Economic Data (FRED) Database-Total Non-Farm Employment (PAYEMS Data Series)
See also
- U.S. economic performance under Democratic and Republican presidents
External links and references
- BLS Employment Situation Archived News Releases
- BLS Employment Situation Explanatory Note
Jobs Created During Each Presidency Term