total nonfarm under Ronald Reagan |
Both George Bush and Barack Obama have had periods just under four years long with growth in total nonfarm employment averaging just under and just over 234,000 jobs per month, as we discussed yesterday here (all figures not-seasonally-adjusted).
But for impressive records of job growth you have to look back to Bill Clinton and Ronald Reagan.
Total nonfarm under Clinton expanded by an average of just over 235,000 per month for all eight years of his two terms, with almost 22.6 million jobs added in total.
Under Reagan the average was just under 166,000 per month for the full eight years, but measured from his post-recession nadir on January 1, 1983 total nonfarm expanded for the next six years at just over 250,000 per month, adding just over 18 million jobs in that time. The net total added under Reagan was 15.9 million.
When reports come out as one did yesterday that total nonfarm increased only 113,000 in the last month, you can understand why people are worried.
We can do a lot better.