40 years of presidents: Who fought unemployment and won?

[IronLionZion]

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/40-years-of-presidents-who-fought-unemployment-and-won-2014-07-30

If a president’s performance were based solely on the unemployment rate while he was in office, who should have left the White House with his head held high? A new state-by-state analysis of unemployment over the last 40 years aims to find out.

Rightly or wrongly, each modern American president is judged on the number of jobs won or lost during his period in office. Unemployment peaked at around 23% in 1933 when Franklin D. Roosevelt introduced the New Deal to get Americans back to work by reforming the U.S. government and funding large-scale public works. That, of course, was at a time of a significant Democratic majority in both the Senate and Congress. President Barack Obama hasn’t had the luxury of a majority in both houses.

Beginning with Jimmy Carter’s presidency in 1978, and ending with Barack Obama’s current term, real estate website Motovo created over 400 maps outlining the seasonally adjusted monthly unemployment rate of each state as reported by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. The methods used by the BLS have increased in accuracy throughout the years, but the maps give an indication of the impact of each president’s term on jobs.

But should you rate a president based on the unemployment figures? “It’s a very difficult question to answer,” says Mark Hamrick, Washington bureau chief with personal finance site Bankrate.com. “In that case, you’re essentially saying the president holds significant stewardship of the U.S. economy alone.” He has one piece of advice for those would-be presidential candidates considering a run in 2016: “It’s better when you don’t have an economic crisis,” Hamrick says. (The jobless rate will fall to between 5.2% and 5.6% just in time for the next presidential election, according to the economic projections of the Federal Reserve.)

The unemployment rate was bumpy during Ronald Reagan’s eight years (1981 to 1989), going from 7.5%, rising to 10.8% in his second year, but finishing at 5.4% when he left office. However, it rose during George H.W. Bush’s four years. The average unemployment rate decreased during the eight-year presidency of Bill Clinton (1993 to 2001), hitting a low of 4% in 2000. He signed the North American Free Trade Agreement in December 1993, getting rid of tariffs and other trade barriers among the U.S., Canada and Mexico. While some critics said the agreement led to job losses, others say it made North America more competitive and helped increase wealth and jobs. After he left office, that all changed.

There's an animation at the link that shows state by state unemployment over the years.

[Thinkingabout]

1. In my lifetime i have seem employment go up during Democratic administration and down in

Republican administrations. Guess if looking at the lower number unemployment Clinton did a good job, huh.

[IronLionZion]

2. Both Clinton and Obama were better than Reagan

It amazes me that there are people who think Reagan was good for anything.

[ffr]

3. He was good as subsidizing the economy by deficit spending

All too happy to spend-and-spend as a Republicon. He was a buffoon, all to conveniently forgetful and surrounding himself with NEOCONS only, representing the rich only, and putting in to judicial positions candidates that had an R by their political affiliation only. And he gave us our first big market crash since the great depression. Sounds rather familiar to W's presidency doesn't it?

NO
MORE
REPUBLIS!

[napkinz]

4. ...