Job creation For job creation, we looked at the two most common yardsticks for employment tracked by the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics -- total nonfarm employment, and the unemployment rate. For consistency, we used January’s monthly figures for each year. During the eight years under Reagan, the number of employed people went up by 16.1 million, or an increase of 18 percent over the eight-year period. During the eight years under Clinton, the number of employed people went up by 22.9 million, or an increase of 21 percent over the eight-year period. So while both presidents did well, the number of employed people rose faster under Clinton, both in raw numbers and by percentage. What about the unemployment rate? Under Reagan, it fell from 7.5 percent to 5.4 percent -- a drop of 2.1 percentage points. Under Clinton, it fell from 7.3 percent to 4.2 percent -- a drop of 3.1 percentage points. So here, too, both presidents chalked up good marks over eight years, but Clinton’s record on job creation over Reagan was modestly superior. Poverty For poverty, we looked at figures from the U.S. Census Bureau, which has tracked poverty figures for decades. We looked at both raw numbers of people in poverty and the poverty rate. During the eight years under Reagan, the number of Americans in poverty declined by 294,000, or a drop in raw numbers of about 1 percent. During the eight years under Clinton, the number of Americans in poverty declined by 6.5 million, or a drop in raw numbers of about 17 percent. So both presidents oversaw a decline in the raw numbers of people in poverty, but the decline was bigger under Clinton. Next, we looked at the poverty rate -- the percent of all Americans who are impoverished. During the eight years under Reagan, the poverty rate fell from 14 percent to 12.8 percent, or a decline of 1.2 percentage points. During the eight years under Clinton, the poverty rate fell from 15.1 percent to 11.7 percent, or a decline of 3.4 percentage points. So, once again, the poverty rate declined under both presidents, but the decline was bigger under Clinton. - Politifact
Posted on: Thu, 24 Jul 2014 15:11:32 +0000
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