Another Strong Jobs Report, Winning The Economic Argument This Year

Dems are good at this capitalism thing. Rs not so much.

Friday, March 10th  - The March BLS jobs report is out and its another remarkably strong one - 311,000 jobs! While things have slowed a bit, as we hoped, the “can do” American spirit is clearly alive and well. With this new data my monthly jobs tracker clocks in at:

• 33.8m jobs - 16 years of Clinton, Obama

• 12.4m jobs - 25 months of Biden

• 1.9m jobs - 16 years of Bush, Bush and Trump

Biden's 12.5m jobs is 6 times as many jobs as were created in the 16 years of the last 3 Republican Presidencies, combined.  It is also millions more than were created in the entirety of any of their three individual Presidencies.  Many millions more. Since 1989 and the end of the Cold War, the US has seen 48 million new jobs created.  Remarkably 46 million of those 48 million job were created under Democratic Presidents, 96%. We’ve also put this data into a Twitter thread for those of you who share on Twitter.

What this data tells us is that since this new age of globalization began in 1989, a modern and forward looking Democratic Party has repeatedly seen strong economic growth on its watch.  Republican Presidents, on the other hand, have overseen three consecutive recessions - the last two, severe. The contrast in performance here is very stark. It is not a stretch to state that the GOP’s economic track record over the past 30 years has been among the worst in the history of the United States.  

The Biden economic track record, on the other hand, has been very strong:

• GDP growth over 3%, 3 times what it was under Trump

• 6 times as many Biden jobs as last 3 GOP Presidents combined

• best COVID recovery in G7

• lowest unemployment rate in peacetime economy since WWII

• lowest poverty/uninsured rates ever

• very elevated wage gains/new business starts

• 2 job openings per unemployed person, a record

• real earnings up in 2022

• the deficit went up every year under Trump and has come down every year under Biden

• trade deficit is down (hello MAGA!)

• domestic oil production on track to set records in 2023

• historic investments in our future prosperity (infrastructure, CHIPs, climate, health care)

Look at the jobs created per month over these Presidencies - Rs at just 10k per month over 16 years.  Biden is running at more than 50 times that so far.  Yes more than 50x. 

Under Biden the US has had the best recovery from COVID of any advanced economy in the world:

The bottom line is that Democratic policies have repeatedly been able to make globalization work for the American people in this new and challenging age.  GOP policies have repeatedly failed to deliver, as a national party Republicans have repeatedly failed to do their part.  For those looking for reasons why America has not made more progress in this era, reactionary Republican policies appear to be a very good place to start.   

It is our firm belief here at NDN that the current radicalization of the GOP is intimately linked to its repeated failure to handle the challenges of the post-Cold War era.  The rigid ideological approach of the modern GOP has left it unable to govern in a time of rapid change; and those repeated failures have left many Republicans angry, reactionary and willing to do the unthinkable to stay in or regain power.  The modern GOP has no answers for many of the most important challenges America faces today, and rather than modernizing, adapting, as all institutions must in a time of change, the GOP has decided to fight the future by rigging the system to remain in power while the country and its people drift from their narrow grasp. 

It is why Democrats must fight so hard to prevent Republicans from once again cheating their way into power, and establishing a sustained period of minority rule.  It is not just a betrayal of the great American experiment, but it will guarantee, as the data here strongly argues, a period of extended decline as much needed progress on the big challenges we face will be further delayed. 

This argument – about the success Democrats have achieved through modernization, and the failures of the GOP for their refusal to do so – is at the very core of our most important presentation, With Democrats Things Get Better.  Our next live showing, always with new and fresh data, is March 21st at 1pm ET. You can RSVP here. If you can’t wait till then check out our last With Dems recording from Feb 16th, 2023. It was a very good one. If you liked this analysis today, you’ll love With Dems.

Finally, I believe our collective overarching message priority this year is to get into positive territory against the Republicans on the economy. I talk about why this is so important in a new Short Take video. Given this strong track record going all the back to 1989 we shouldn’t be losing the economic debate to these guys. It is critical that we work together in 2023 to establish this basic contrast:

Dems = growth, lower deficits, progress for workers and families

Rs = recession, higher deficits, American decline

Happy Jobs Day All! Simon