Administration’s U.S. employment claims not justified

President Biden and his administration are bragging their policies have created 12 million jobs. A little reality is required here.

In April 2020, seasonally unadjusted private employment fell by 19,457,000 below the April 2019 level. By December 2020, the economy had restored over 11 million of the lost jobs. In January 2021, Biden took over the presidency and, in that month, jobs were still 8 million lower than the year earlier figure. In February of 2022, 13 months later, jobs were still more than a half million under the February 2020 reading. It took 14 months, until March 2022, before private employment rose to the pre-Covid March 2020 level—when the impact of the pandemic began to be felt significantly.

For 2021—Biden’s first year—private employment averaged almost 4 million below the pre-pandemic 12-month average for 2019. With the return to net growth in jobs, compared to the monthly 2019 figures, three years later in March 2022 and following throughout the year, the annual average rose to stand 2.1 million above the 2019 average. And in January 2023, private jobs climbed to 3.2 million above the pre-pandemic January 2020 reading.

That’s a far cry from 12 million new jobs created.

In short, claims of 12 million new jobs ignore the return of the huge losses incurred in 2020. Bear in mind, too, that two very large stimulus programs from Congress totaling well over a trillion dollars were used to create much of the Biden-era job gains in 2022 and these were accompanied by a significant rise in consumer prices.

Note that in the three years from January 2017 when Trump took office and January 2020, just before the COVID disaster, 6.2 million new private had been added to payrolls. Inflation was low, regulations were being cut sharply and the U.S. had become a net exporter of energy. All of that has been reversed since January of 2021.