January 07,2015

Press Contact:

Aaron Fobes, Julia Lawless (202) 224-4515

By the Numbers: A Closer Look at the Obama Economy

An Economic Era of Fewer Jobs, Smaller Paychecks, Record High Debt

Over the past six years hard-working, middle-class families have been squeezed by the President’s failed economic policies. Bigger government, higher taxes, and more spending has saddled the American people with record high debt and left them with fewer jobs and smaller paychecks.

The following analysis by the Senate Finance Committee Republican Staff takes a closer look at the Obama Economy and its impact on the American people:

Fewer Jobs…

  • The number of people who are not in the labor force has grown, despite a growing working-age population, by 11.9 million. 
  • The number of people who are not in the labor force who want a job has grown by 837,000 during the Obama Administration.  Many simply gave up on trying to find a job in the Obama economy. 
  •  The employment-to-population ratio has remained consistently below 60 percent during the Obama Administration’s tenure and has barely budged; in contrast, the ratio averaged 62.9 percent between the beginning of 2000 through when the president assumed office.
  •  The labor force participation rate has continued to trend downward during the Obama Administration’s tenure, from 65.7 percent when the president took office to its current 62.8 percent.
  •  Payroll job growth has been tepidover Obama’s tenure: it has averaged only 74,000 per month, and 140,000 per month since the end of the recession. 
  • There has only been a net 5.3 million payroll jobs created over the Obama Administration’s tenurevs. over 7.3 million payroll jobs that were lost during the recession.

 Smaller Paychecks…

  •   Earnings have barely budged during the Obama Administration’s tenure:average hourly earnings, adjusted for inflation, were $10.38 when the president took office; six and a half years after the National Bureau of Economic Research declared that the recession ended (June 2009), average hourly earnings were $10.43. 
  •  Inflation-adjusted median household income has fallen during the Obama Administration’s tenure from $54,423 in 2008, the year before the president took office, to only $51,939 in 2013.
  •  Inflation-adjusted per capita income has fallen from $29,173 in 2008 to $28,829 in 2013.
  •   The number of people in poverty has risen over the Obama Administration’s tenure, from 39.8 million in 2008, before the president took office, to 45.3 million in 2013.

Record High Debt…

  • The federal budget deficit ballooned to $1.41 trillion in fiscal year (FY) 2009. Under the Obama Administration, the Obama-era deficits have been as high as 9.8 percent of the size of the entire economy—deficit levels not seen since the years surrounding World War II. 
  •  Total public debt outstanding has increased by $8.6 trillion during the Obama Administration’s tenure - more than the annual output of Germany, France, and Italy combined - skyrocketing to more than $18 trillion from $10.6 trillion, when the president took office – a whopping 70 percent increase.  Debt held by the public jumped to $13 trillion, from $6.3 trillion when the president took office – a 106 percent increase.
  •  Relative to the size of the economy, public debt has increased from 67.9 percent in 2008, the year before the president took office, to 103 percent as of the end of last year.

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