A Breakdown of Non-Farm Payroll Job Growth By President



Bill Clinton smiling and giving a thumb up - IllustrationEvery time that the BLS (Bureau of Labor Statistics) releases the monthly employment numbers, one of the pieces of data that you will always hear quoted is “non-farm payroll employment”.

Non-farm payroll employment includes paid US workers of any business excluding government employees, farm employees, private household employees and “employees of nonprofit organizations that provide assistance” to individuals. Non-farm payroll accounts for “approximately 80% of the workers who produce the entire GDP of the United States”. (Source: Investopedia.com)

You will hear the non-farm payroll jobs number quoted all of the time, as it is a closely followed statistic.

Anyways, one of the readers of this site wondered if I could break down non-farm payroll job growth by president, so I’m going to do exactly that, using data from 1948 to 2010.

Here’s a breakdown of non-farm payroll job growth by president since 1948:

Cumulative Total of President Harry Truman (D): +5,586,000 jobs
Average Jobs Per Month: +93,100
Total Number of Months: 60

Cumulative Total of President Dwight Eisenhower (R): +3,579,000 jobs
Average Jobs Per Month: +37,281.25 jobs
Total Number of Months: 96

Cumulative Total of President John F. Kennedy/Lyndon B. Johnson (D): +5,677,000 jobs
Average Jobs Per Month: +118,270.83
Total Number of Months: 48

Cumulative Total of President Lyndon B. Johnson (D): +9,825,000 jobs
Average Jobs Per Month: +204,687.5
Total Number of Months: 48

Cumulative Total of President Richard Nixon/Gerald Ford (R): +6,025,000 jobs
Average Jobs Per Month: +125,520.83
Total Number of Months: 48

Cumulative Total of President Gerald Ford (R): +5,178,000 jobs
Average Jobs Per Month: +107,875
Total Number of Months: 48

Cumulative Total of President Jimmy Carter (D): +10,488,000 jobs
Average Jobs Per Month: +218,500
Total Number of Months: 48

Cumulative Total of President Ronald Reagan (R): +15,935,000 jobs
Average Jobs Per Month: +165,989.58
Total Number of Months: 96

Cumulative Total of President George H.W. Bush (R): +2,544,000 jobs
Average Jobs Per Month: +53,000
Total Number of Months: 48

Cumulative Total of President Bill Clinton (D): +23,070,000 jobs
Average Jobs Per Month: +240,312.5
Total Number of Months: 96

Cumulative Total of President George W. Bush (R): +1,843,000 jobs
Average Jobs Per Month: +19,197.92
Total Number of Months: 96

Cumulative Total of President Barack Obama (D): -3,866,000 jobs
Average Jobs Per Month: -175,727.27
Total Number of Months: 22

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As you can see, the most non-farm payroll jobs were added during President Clinton’s eight year run from 1993-2000. Job growth was also strong during Jimmy Carter’s term (over 10 million added) and Ronald’s Reagan’s eight year stay in the White House (+15,935,000 jobs).

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Breaking it down re: Republican vs Democratic president, 50,780,000 non-farm payroll jobs have been added since 1948 when a Democratic president has been sitting in the White House, vs 35,104,000 nonfarm payroll jobs when a Republican has been sitting in the White House.

The average number of jobs added per month (322 months total) with a Democratic president has been 157,701, vs 81,259 (432 months) when a Republican has been in the White House.

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I know what some of you are saying - break this down by controlling House/Senate party as well. Don’t worry, I will definitely be doing another article later this week that will contain this information.

Sources: BLS.gov

Investopedia.com

Filed under: General Knowledge

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