PRESS REPORT: NEW REPORT: BIDEN’S PRESIDENCY BY THE NUMBERS

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 9, 2022

Contact: 
Jack Miller, Communications Director
[email protected]

NEW REPORT: BIDEN’S PRESIDENCY BY THE NUMBERS

Record Job Numbers, Low Unemployment, and Historic Economic Growth

When President Biden took office in January 2021, America was still in the depths of the coronavirus pandemic and faced an unprecedented economic downturn. But thanks to the American Rescue Plan and the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, America’s economy has bounced back – a recovery nobody predicted.

Fast forward to 2022: the Federal Reserve Board observed that Americans reported the highest rates of economic well-being since 2013, with 78 percent of adults reporting they are either “doing okay” or “living comfortably financially.”

Today, Invest in America released a short report detailing how the Biden administration’s policies have delivered historic job creation, higher wages, record-low unemployment, the highest GDP growth in almost 40 years, and more.

Here’s a recap of Biden’s presidency so far, by the numbers:

8.7 Million Jobs Created: The Most of Any Presidential Term

• Since President Biden took office, the economy has added 8.7 million jobs.

  • That’s already a record for any presidential term.

17 Months: A Rapid Recovery

• The Biden administration has recovered 8.7 million jobs in 17 months. That’s 96% of the jobs lost in the pandemic.

  • According to the Roosevelt Institute: “Exact comparisons are tough, but we can clock this recovery, as Niskanen Center’s Matt Darling does, at eight times the speed of the Great Recession.”

  • Historical Comparison: it took 51 months (4.25 years) to recover 8.7 million jobs from the Great Recession. Without the Biden administration’s response, the U.S. might have been in a similar situation.

5.5% GDP Growth: Highest Since 1984

• Real GDP grew 5.5 percent in 2021, the fastest pace since 1984.

• Thanks to the Biden administration’s policies, America’s recovery has been the best in the world.

  • The U.S. was the first country of the seven biggest economies to recover all real GDP lost during the pandemic. It even surpassed pre-pandemic levels.

  • The Biden administration’s economic policies brought about a small business boom, with the U.S. Census Bureau reporting a record-setting 5.4 million new small business applications in 2021.

  • To compare, in the years after the Great Recession fewer than 2 million new business applications were filed each year through September.

4.5% Wage Growth: Highest Since 1983

The Biden administration has produced the fastest wage growth since 1983 and increased wages for workers usually left behind during recoveries.

• For the year after December 2020, nominal wages and salaries were up 4.5 percent, the fastest increase since 1983.

• Wages are even rising for workers who usually get left behind in recoveries.

  • Roosevelt Institute: Younger workers (16-24 years old) saw a 9.7 percent wage increase, and the bottom 25 percent of earners saw a 5.1 percent raise.

  • For the first time in decades, median hourly wages or salaries increased most rapidly for working Americans in the lowest earnings quartile.

52 Years: The Last Time Unemployment Was This Low

• In late May, the total number of Americans collecting jobless benefits dropped to about 1.31 million, the lowest since December 1969.

• 2021 ended with a year-end unemployment rate of 3.9%, down from 6.3% when Biden took office.

  • This beat estimates by a long shot. The CBO and Federal Reserve estimated unemployment would be 5% or higher at year’s end.

  • Even after the American Rescue Plan was passed, the CBO estimated that unemployment would be at 4.6% at the end of 2021.

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