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Were more jobs added under Biden than in the first three years of any president?

By ·July 9, 2024

Yes

The 14.6 million net jobs added during the first three years of the Biden Administration is the largest increase for any first three years of a U.S. presidential administration. This represents a 10.3% increase in the number of jobs.

But the 14.6 million figure does not translate to the largest percent increase relative to population. That happened under Carter, when jobs increased 12.5% between January 1977 and January 1980 (from 80.7 million to 90.8 million jobs).

The American job market took a large hit due to the COVID-19 pandemic: there were 150.9 million jobs at the beginning of March 2020, but only 130.4 million by April 2020. When President Biden assumed office in January 2021, that number had rebounded to 142.9 million. In June 2024, 158.6 million jobs were recorded by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

  This fact brief is responsive to conversations such as this one.

Sources:

Google Docs Total Employees 1939 to 2024

FRED (Federal Reserve Bank Of St. Louis) All Employees, Total Nonfarm


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