Thursday, Aug. 22, 2024
Were 50 million of the 51 million net US jobs added since 1989 created during Democratic presidencies?
The United States netted 51 million new jobs since 1989. Accounting for gains and losses, Democrats held the presidency for 50 million of those.
The claim was made by former president Bill Clinton at the Democratic National Convention.
In the 35 years since 1989, Democrats served for 19 years (Clinton, Barack Obama, Joe Biden); and Republicans for 16 years (George H.W. Bush, George W. Bush, Donald Trump).
The Economist previously reported 49 million of the 50 million net jobs added between January 1989 and February 2024 were created under Democrats.
“Many things feed into growth trends that have only a scant connection to whoever is living in the White House — from the business cycle to tech innovations and Federal Reserve decisions to the global economy,” The Economist said.
For example, COVID in 2020 caused massive job losses under Trump that erased earlier gains. The rebound happened mostly under Biden.
This fact brief is responsive to conversations such as this one.
Sources
- USA TODAY Full speech: Bill Clinton speaks at 2024 DNC | USA TODAY
- Library of Congress Chronological List of Presidents, First Spouses, and Vice Presidents of the United States
- New York Times D.N.C. Live Updates: Night 3 Will Give Tim Walz the Biggest Stage of His Life
- Google Docs Federal Reserve Bank employment counts
- NBC News DNC 2024 live updates: Watch Tim Walz, Bill Clinton, Oprah Winfrey and Nancy Pelosi speak tonight
- The Economist Five charts compare Democrats and Republicans on job creation
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Fact briefs are bite-sized, well-sourced explanations that offer clear "yes" or "no" answers to questions, confusions, and unsupported claims circulating online. They rely on publicly available data and documents, often from the original source. Fact briefs are written and published by Gigafact contributor publications.
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