As for the more simple number of jobs created, the progress under the current administration is equally strong. Again, the low point occurs just as Obama took office, with the U.S. losing around 800,000 jobs per month. We hit positive job creation numbers a year later, and have had 78 consecutive months of job growth since. In case you’re wondering, yes, that is the longest such streak on record.

As for the unemployment rate, it has followed a similarly impressive pattern, as captured by Kyle Griffin, producer for Lawrence O’Donnell’s MSNBC show:

x U.S. Unemployment Rate



Aug 2010: 9.5%

Aug 2011: 9.0%

Aug 2012: 8.1%

Aug 2013: 7.3%

Aug 2014: 6.2%

Aug 2015: 5.1%

Aug 2016: 4.9% — Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) September 2, 2016

Check out this comment on the unemployment numbers from the White House’s Jesse Lee:

x In alt universe where Romney won, these #s would be getting chiseled under his face on Mount Rushmore as we speak. https://t.co/7prryK5nPF — Jesse Lee (@jesseclee44) September 2, 2016

And it’s not just jobs. Although it’s taken longer, wage growth is firming up as well. Real wage growth, i.e., after inflation, has been running at or just above 2 percent for the past couple of years, thanks to low inflation and solid nominal growth. The paychecks of the American worker are going significantly farther than they were in the period just after the crash, early in President Obama’s term. In fact, this graph shows that the paycheck of the average worker—the technical term is “production and nonsupervisory employee”—now goes farther than at any point since—wait for it—the Carter Administration.

Let me add that, of course, things are not perfect. However, there is no question that the policies President Obama and a Democratic Congress implemented after the crash of 2008 turned our economy around, Trump’s lies notwithstanding. The truth is that virtually every economist asked in a University of Chicago survey agreed that the stimulus package—the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009—had a real and positive impact. It helped mitigate the worst effects of the crash and put us on a course toward recovery.

We can see this even more directly by comparing our economy’s performance to that of our economic peers. Whereas Obama and the Democrats implemented significant stimulus measures shortly after taking office, European governments instead pursued a path of comparatively harsh austerity. Economists Carmen Reinhart and Kenneth Rogoff—whose area of specialty is financial crises—ran the numbers and found that, since the crash, the U.S. economy has experienced a stronger recovery than that of virtually any other wealthy, industrialized country. Furthermore, it has recovered more quickly than normal compared to what has happened in the past after such a crash.

Hillary Clinton largely shares Obama’s progressive economic philosophy, and will maintain and/or build on his policies. Her opponent’s tax plans make George W. Bush—whose policies gave us negative private sector job growth during his eight-year presidency—look like Karl Marx (try to picture Dubya with that hair and beard if you ever need a good laugh).

The choice is clear: Democrats like Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton know how to create jobs. As for the other side? Forget reality TV. Trump’s economic plans would lead to millions of Americans getting fired.

Ian Reifowitz is the author of Obama’s America: A Transformative Vision of Our National Identity (Potomac Books).