The Bush Boom: Employment
Lee Price emails us about the Bush Boom:
We now have job numbers for the entire 8 years of the Bush Administration. In the last 8 years, payroll jobs are up only 1.6% (0.2% annual rate). That's far and away the slowest 8 year gain on record. In the 8 years of Clinton, jobs grew by 20.7% (2.38% annual rate). In the 70 years of available data, jobs have grown at an annual rate of 2.2%. For the 62 years before Bush the average was 2.4%.
Not all the bad economic performance of the Bush years was Bush's fault--but at leeast 1/3 of it was. Not all of the good economic performance of the Clinton years was Clinton's responsibility--but my assessment is that roughly half of it was. And the Obama administration has so far made a very good start on pursuing a responsible and pro-American economic policy.
On the other hand, during the Bush years the President's Council of Economic Advisers hired 37% more interns than during the Clinton administration...
