Nine Months into Office: Biden Outclassed Other Presidents on Economy

With the passing of the infrastructure bill from Congress, the economic agenda of President Joe Biden has started to actualize.

After months of internal hassle, the bill would prove a significant achievement as it would provide Democrats with the support they needed badly after patchy off-year elections.

The job report of October also depicts that the Biden administration has finally started realizing its economic agenda, which can help them in the 2022 elections.

October Job Growth Comparison of the Inaugration Year of Presidents: Biden Leads the Way

Compared to the Trump and Obama administration, Biden’s nine-month progress seems impressive. The October job growth rate in the last three administrations looks like this.

These numbers indicate that the US economy is finally on the right track, and just nine months into the office, Biden has started actualizing his agenda, which he promised.

Now once the infrastructure starts building under the $1 trillion plan, the pace of the US economic growth will start becoming impressive to an immeasurable extent.

Bringing Economy Back to Normal was a Big Ask of Biden, and He Delivered

The merciless beating which the US economy received during Trump’s tenure was depicted in his job growth records, as he left the office with the worst job numbers since Herbert Hoover.

While the economic indicators showed encouraging results during the first three years of his tenure, the fragile model he built was exposed when COVID shattered the world.

The annualized job growth under him was -0.5 %, which indicates that Biden was facing an unprecedented challenge after assuming the presidency.

When Trump was inaugurated, almost 145 million Americans were employed, which declined to 142 million when he was leaving the office.

This decline was the indication of his poor track record, as he became the first president in recent memory to observe a negative job rate.

This made Biden’s challenge even more sparkling as he had to bring the employment back to the previous times before making any positive contribution to the numbers.

Impressive Vaccination Rates Brought Biden on Top

Nonetheless, Biden’s decision to vaccinate millions of Americans so fast is commendable because it allowed the US to expand the economy quickly.

Almost nine months into his presidency, he managed to bring down the hospitalization rates, due to COVID vaccinations, to an appreciable extent, which was one of the reasons for bringing the employment numbers up.

While there is a politically motivated school of thought that believes that the COVID vaccine mandate would force people to leave their jobs, vaccinating this many people is undoubtedly a commendable approach.

The faulty assumption on which Republicans are driving this school of thought ignores the fact that the jobs were created due to the same vaccination mandate in the first place. So even if some workers quit for denying vaccines, the net employment rate still comes out positive.

Now, when the infrastructure bill is on Biden’s desk, the job numbers are expected to increase even more strongly. Once the bill is signed into law, it will define the promise which Biden made during his campaigns.

This era will also define the power of Biden’s economic agenda, which can help him regain the lost momentum before the 2022 midterm elections.

The subsequent surveys showed Biden’s declining approval rating because of Congressional Democrats not coming on the same page.

However, as time progresses and the infrastructure bill starts yielding its effects on the US economy by creating high-paid jobs, Biden’s approval ratings are also likely to go up.

Now, if he manages to pass the social spending bill soon, it will help him in impressing the liberal faction of the Democratic caucus as well, which will be the best thing he can expect before the 2022 midterm elections.

Job Growth Will Complement Other Achievements Soon 

October job reports gains were much-needed for Biden after the sluggish job gains in the last two months.

This will also serve the purpose of normalizing the supply chain crisis, which was worsening after the historic backlog at ports.

It is pertinent to note here that many of the jobs came in the warehousing, manufacturing, and transportation sector, which are the primary drivers of the supply chain issues.

Now Democrats can expect to wrap up those crises as soon as possible to initiate another surge in the manufacturing sector that halted the production due to the supply chain issues.

With Americans having more cash available to them, not only due to the rising employment but also from COVID stimulus packages, there is no wonder why inflation is rising in the country.

Just in the last 19 months, the overall saving is $2.3 trillion higher than what would have been in the pre-pandemic times. These numbers can contribute to inflation if they are not tackled in a proper manner.

In addition, bringing the clocks back on November 7 will also have a positive impact on the economic recovery, helping the country save big money in energy usage.

Final Thoughts

Democrats should capitalize on the passing of this measure if they want to retain Congress in 2022. Otherwise, the GOP can continue its propaganda against the bill, just like they did against all other Democratic measures, which can hurt the Democratic cause.

Eli Mshomi

Eli is a Political Data Scientist with over thirty years of experience in Data Engineering, Analytics, and Digital Marketing. Eli uses his expertise to give the latest information and distinctive analysis on US Political News, US Foreign Affairs, Human Rights, and Racial Justice equipping readers with the inequivalent knowledge.