Bush posts worst postwar jobs mark
Washington Business Journal
Tuesday, January 20, 2009, 8:45am EST
by G. Scott Thomas Contributing Writer
bizjournals.com
President George W. Bush will leave office on Tuesday with the worst employment-growth record of any president since World War II, according to a new analysis.
The nation's job base grew at an annual rate of 0.28 percent during Bush's eight years as president -- by far the slowest pace for any of the 11 presidents in the postwar era.
The previous low had been set by Bush's father, George H.W. Bush, with an annual job-growth rate of 0.59 percent. The elder Bush served between 1989 and 1993.
Business First, a sister publication to the Washington Business Journal, used seasonally adjusted data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics to calculate employment-growth rates for the administrations of all presidents since Harry Truman.
Each president's record was based on a comparison of job totals in the final full month served by his predecessor and his own final month. George W. Bush's span ran from December 2000, when nonfarm employment totaled 132.5 million, to December 2008, when it reached 135.5 million.
The administration with the strongest growth rate since World War II was that of Lyndon Johnson, who served between November 1963 and January 1969. Employment increased at an annual pace of 3.74 percent during that period.
Business First also looked at five subsets of job growth, with the younger President Bush finishing last in four of those categories -- private-sector, manufacturing, retail-trade and government employment.
The exception was construction employment, where Bush ranked ninth with an annual growth rate of 0.08 percent. The nation suffered losses of construction jobs under two presidents: Gerald Ford (down 3.75 percent per year between 1974 and 1977) and George H.W. Bush (down 3.22 percent per year).
Johnson was the top-rated president in three of the subsets -- private-sector, manufacturing and government employment. Harry Truman, who was president from 1945 to 1953, led the other two -- construction and retail-trade employment.
Annual employment-growth rates for all 11 postwar presidents are listed below:
Total employment
• 1. Lyndon Johnson (1963-69), 3.74%
• 2. Jimmy Carter (1977-81), 3.11%
• 3. Bill Clinton (1993-2001), 2.42%
• 4. Harry Truman (1945-53), 2.38%
• 5. Richard Nixon (1969-74), 2.30%
• 6. John Kennedy (1961-63), 2.28%
• 7. Ronald Reagan (1981-89), 2.04%
• 8. Gerald Ford (1974-77), 0.95%
• 9. Dwight Eisenhower (1953-61), 0.87%
• 10. George H.W. Bush (1989-93), 0.59%
• 11. George W. Bush (2001-09), 0.28%
Private-sector employment
• 1. Lyndon Johnson (1963-69), 3.50%
• 2. Jimmy Carter (1977-81), 3.34%
• 3. Bill Clinton (1993-2001), 2.66%
• 4. Harry Truman (1945-53), 2.54%
• 5. Ronald Reagan (1981-89), 2.26%
• 6. Richard Nixon (1969-74), 2.16%
• 7. John Kennedy (1961-63), 2.04%
• 8. Gerald Ford (1974-77), 0.66%
• 9. Dwight Eisenhower (1953-61), 0.54%
• 10. George H.W. Bush (1989-93), 0.39%
• 11. George W. Bush (2001-09), 0.14%
Construction employment
• 1. Harry Truman (1945-53), 11.36%
• 2. Bill Clinton (1993-2001), 4.91%
• 3. Jimmy Carter (1977-81), 4.60%
• 4. John Kennedy (1961-63), 2.91%
• 5. Lyndon Johnson (1963-69), 2.50%
• 6. Richard Nixon (1969-74), 2.49%
• 7. Ronald Reagan (1981-89), 2.25%
• 8. Dwight Eisenhower (1953-61), 0.67%
• 9. George W. Bush (2001-09), 0.08%
• 10. George H.W. Bush (1989-93), -3.22%
• 11. Gerald Ford (1974-77), -3.75%
Manufacturing employment
• 1. Lyndon Johnson (1963-69), 3.11%
• 2. John Kennedy (1961-63), 1.78%
• 3. Jimmy Carter (1977-81), 1.27%
• 4. Harry Truman (1945-53), 0.41%
• 5. Bill Clinton (1993-2001), 0.30%
• 6. Richard Nixon (1969-74), 0.24%
• 7. Ronald Reagan (1981-89), -0.42%
• 8. Dwight Eisenhower (1953-61), -0.83%
• 9. George H.W. Bush (1989-93), -1.79%
• 10. Gerald Ford (1974-77), -2.11%
• 11. George W. Bush (2001-09), -3.44%
Retail-trade employment
• 1. Harry Truman (1945-53), 4.23%
• 2. Lyndon Johnson (1963-69), 4.00%
• 3. Richard Nixon (1969-74), 3.34%
• 4. Jimmy Carter (1977-81), 3.14%
• 5. Ronald Reagan (1981-89), 2.92%
• 6. Gerald Ford (1974-77), 2.41%
• 7. Bill Clinton (1993-2001), 2.28%
• 8. John Kennedy (1961-63), 1.62%
• 9. Dwight Eisenhower (1953-61), 1.39%
• 10. George H.W. Bush (1989-93), -0.17%
• 11. George W. Bush (2001-09), -0.34%
Government employment
• 1. Lyndon Johnson (1963-69), 4.91%
• 2. John Kennedy (1961-63), 3.51%
• 3. Richard Nixon (1969-74), 2.95%
• 4. Dwight Eisenhower (1953-61), 2.72%
• 5. Gerald Ford (1974-77), 2.24%
• 6. Jimmy Carter (1977-81), 2.09%
• 7. George H.W. Bush (1989-93), 1.57%
• 8. Harry Truman (1945-53), 1.42%
• 9. Bill Clinton (1993-2001), 1.22%
• 10. Ronald Reagan (1981-89), 1.00%
• 11. George W. Bush (2001-09), 0.99%
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