Last month, I mentioned that private job creation was on pace for the best ever during a presidential term. I received a few emails asking if that was correct. The answer is "yes".



Note: We frequently use Presidential terms as time markers - we could use Speaker of the House, or any other marker.



Here is a table of the top three presidential terms for private job creation (they also happen to be the three best terms for total non-farm job creation).



Note: Overall employment was smaller in the '80s, however the participation rate was increasing in the '80s. The prime working age labor force was growing more than 3% per year in the '80s with a surge in younger workers and women joining the labor force. Now, the overall population is larger, but the prime working age population has declined this decade and the participation rate is generally declining now.



Clinton's two terms were the best for both private and total non-farm job creation, followed by Reagan's 2nd term. Public sector job creation increased the most during Reagan's 2nd term.



Currently Obama's 2nd term is on pace to be the best ever for private job creation. However, with very few public sector jobs added, Obama's 2nd term is only on pace to be the third best for total job creation.



Note: Only 34 thousand public sector jobs have been added during the first twenty five months of Obama's 2nd term (following a record loss of 702 thousand public sector jobs during Obama's 1st term). This is just 2% of the public sector jobs added during Reagan's 2nd term!





Top Employment Gains per Presidential Terms (000s) Rank Term Private Public Total Non-Farm 1 Clinton 1 10,885 692 11,577 2 Clinton 2 10,070 1,242 11,312 3 Reagan 2 9,357 1,438 10,795 Obama 21 5,799 34 5,833 Pace2 11,134 65 11,199 125 Months into 2nd Term

2Current Pace for Obama's 2nd Term

Jobs needed per month (average) for Obama's 2nd Term to Rank Private Total #1 221 250 #2 186 238 #3 155 216

The second table shows the jobs need per month for Obama's 2nd term to be in the top three presidential terms.