Most Jobs Per 100 New Members of US Population Added During Lyndon B. Johnson's Time in White House

On November 8th, 2010, I wrote an article titled "Non-Farm Payroll Job Growth by President 1948-2010".

In the article, I broke down total non-farm payroll job growth by president since 1948 (1948 is the first year for which the Bureau of Labor Statistics provides this data). President Clinton, President Reagan and President Carter all presided over 10 million+ increases in total non-farm payroll jobs during their time in the White House. In terms of jobs added per month, President Clinton led the way with an average of +240,315.

On the flip side, President George H.W. Bush and his son, President George W. Bush, lagged the other presidents considerably in terms of total non-farm payroll job growth (President George W. Bush saw just 19,198 non-farm payroll jobs per month added during his eight years as president), while President Obama is well on his way to posting a negative number (especially if he doesn't managed to win a second term, barring an unbelievable economic recovery).

Anyways, a number of people wrote to me and asked if I could break down total non-farm payroll job growth vs total population growth. After all, it's obviously more noteworthy if 10 million jobs are added when the population of the country is 200 million people compared to when the population is over 300 million people.

So, I tried to find the most accurate population data possible from 1948 to 2010, and ended up with a number for each different president that has held the White House since 1948 - total non-farm payroll jobs added for each 100 new members of the population while they were in office. Here is the data:

Cumulative Total of President Harry Truman (D): +5,586,000 jobs
Average Jobs Per Month: +93,100
Total Number of Months: 60
63 jobs added for every 100 new members of the population

Cumulative Total of President Dwight Eisenhower (R): +3,579,000 jobs
Average Jobs Per Month: +37,281.25 jobs
Total Number of Months: 96
17 jobs added for every 100 new members of the population

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
69 jobs added for every 100 new members of the population

Cumulative Total of President Lyndon B. Johnson (D): +9,825,000 jobs
Average Jobs Per Month: +204,687.5
Total Number of Months: 48
153 jobs added for every 100 new members of the population

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
83 jobs added for every 100 new members of the population

Cumulative Total of President Gerald Ford (R): +5,178,000 jobs
Average Jobs Per Month: +107,875
Total Number of Months: 48
85 jobs added for every 100 new members of the population

Cumulative Total of President Jimmy Carter (D): +10,488,000 jobs
Average Jobs Per Month: +218,500
Total Number of Months: 48
150 jobs added for every 100 new members of the population

Cumulative Total of President Ronald Reagan (R): +15,935,000 jobs
Average Jobs Per Month: +165,989.58
Total Number of Months: 96
106 jobs added for every 100 new members of the population

Cumulative Total of President George H.W. Bush (R): +2,544,000 jobs
Average Jobs Per Month: +53,000
Total Number of Months: 48
31 jobs added for every 100 new members of the population

Cumulative Total of President Bill Clinton (D): +23,070,000 jobs
Average Jobs Per Month: +240,312.5
Total Number of Months: 96
98 jobs added for every 100 new members of the population

Cumulative Total of President George W. Bush (R): +1,843,000 jobs
Average Jobs Per Month: +19,197.92
Total Number of Months: 96
10 jobs added for every 100 new members of the population

Cumulative Total of President Barack Obama (D): -3,866,000 jobs
Average Jobs Per Month: -175,727.27
Total Number of Months: 22
-101 jobs added for every 100 new members of the population

Source: Davemanuel.com - Non-Farm Payroll Job Growth by President, 1948-2010

Source: Census.gov

Filed under: General Knowledge

3 COMMENTS - What Say You?

Comment by avid E. Lutz on December 01, 2010 @ 11:20 am

Interesting numbers--they soul have increased wit each succesve adminstration--until after Clinton. No matter who had the next term n offce, even if it had been Clinnton again, it (eployment) would have gone down because old Bill and his bunch had set the stage, as was frequently pointed out, for a recession. The apparent budget surplus blinded observers to the pending disaster.

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Comment by braccer on January 08, 2011 @ 9:52 pm

Given that there's roughly a 2 year lag between what goes into a Federal budget and when it goes into effect, if there is any cause & effect based on who's POTUS, there's going to be a lag.

As such, the current presentation is nearly useless: what's needed is to have the same data presented in a year-by-year format.

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Comment by pjd on April 02, 2011 @ 9:21 pm

I think it depends a lot more on who controls Congress than who's Pres.

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