Happy President’s Day! Each presidency comes with its fair share of champions and naysayers and we all know the numbers can be interpreted to support both sides of the aisle.

We’re celebrating this President’s Day with a look at various economic statistics during each President’s term since Eisenhower (1953 – 1961) as most data wasn’t consistently tracked before then. Enjoy the look back!

Average unemployment rates (Source)  

Eisenhower – 4.93
Kennedy – 5.96
Johnson – 4.18
Nixon – 5.03
Ford – 7.84
Carter – 6.54
Reagan – 7.51
Bush Sr. – 6.34
Clinton – 5.17
Bush Jr. – 5.31
Obama – 7.44

Debt Added during Term (Billions) (Source)

Eisenhower – $26.7
Kennedy – $23.4
Johnson – $49.7
Nixon – $118.1
Ford – $222.5
Carter – $288.4
Reagan – $1,873
Bush Sr. – $1,483.2
Clinton – $1,418.8
Bush Jr. – $6,106
Obama – $5,918.6

Average job gains per Month (Thousands) (Source)

Eisenhower – 42.84
Kennedy – 104.12
Johnson – 192.4
Nixon – 140.13
Ford – 62.52
Carter – 219.4
Reagan – 165.76
Bush Sr. – 53.94
Clinton – 241.96
Bush Jr. – 21.35
Obama – 93.8

Average Annual Real GDP Growth (%) (Source)

Eisenhower – 3%
Kennedy – 4.3%
Johnson – 5.3%
Nixon – 2.8%
Ford – 2.6%
Carter – 3.3%
Reagan – 3.5%
Bush Sr. – 2.3%
Clinton – 3.9%
Bush Jr. – 2.1%
Obama – 1.5%

As we said in the beginning, data can be interpreted in a lot of different ways to support one side or the other, but it is interesting to look back and see what different presidents faced in their time in office. Stay up to date on the U.S. economy by listening to Inside the Economy with SH&J. It is available on our blog every other week and in iTunes Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts!

Audio and Video Podcast links
https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/sharkey-howes-javer/id1041517113
https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/sharkey-howes-javer/id1030563035?mt=2