The Obama Slump

Former Treasury official J. T. Young, writes for RealClearMarkets about the true state of the Obama economy.

Two significant facts emerge from putting Obama's seven years into context. First, although an additional nine million employed sounds impressive, it has not kept pace with the growth of America's potential labor force. Second and more dramatically, today's seemingly low unemployment rate is the product of today's low labor force participation rate - without its huge fall, today's unemployment rate would actually be far larger than when Obama took office.

Examining Obama's employment and unemployment record, two basic conclusions emerge: Either employment failed to match the potential labor force's growth because there have been insufficient jobs; or Americans deem the available jobs not worth entering the workforce for. Either conclusion indicts Obama's real employment record.

There is a reason why Obama makes no remarks concerning economic growth: there is little on which to comment. Annual real GDP growth during Obama's presidency has averaged less than half of the post-WWII period preceding it - 1.4% from 2009-2015 versus 3.1% from 1946-2008.

Why would anyone want four more years of this lackluster economy? We need growth.