Jobs Added per Month under every president, month by month
At month 21 in office, Trump II is at 29K: #5 of 10 administrations (average 40K). Official Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) data.
Every administration at month 21
| Rank | Administration | Value at month 21 | Change since month 1 | Latest / end of month 48 | Primary federal source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| #1 | Bill Clinton | 344K | +19.4% | 196K (month 48) | Bureau of Labor Statistics · PAYEMS |
| #2 | Joe Biden | 220K | −30.2% | 237K (month 48) | Bureau of Labor Statistics · PAYEMS |
| #3 | Jimmy Carter | 138K | −43.0% | 196K (month 48) | Bureau of Labor Statistics · PAYEMS |
| #4 | Donald Trump (first term) | 81K | −63.2% | −185K (month 48) | Bureau of Labor Statistics · PAYEMS |
| #5 | Donald Trump (second term) · in office | 29K | +160.4% | 29K (month 21) | Bureau of Labor Statistics · PAYEMS |
| #6 | Richard Nixon | 7K | −96.3% | 295K (month 48) | Bureau of Labor Statistics · PAYEMS |
| #7 | Barack Obama | −74K | +90.4% | 249K (month 48) | Bureau of Labor Statistics · PAYEMS |
| #8 | George W. Bush | −79K | −507.7% | 127K (month 48) | Bureau of Labor Statistics · PAYEMS |
| #9 | George H. W. Bush | −85K | −132.3% | 219K (month 48) | Bureau of Labor Statistics · PAYEMS |
| #10 | Ronald Reagan | −180K | −300.0% | 125K (month 48) | Bureau of Labor Statistics · PAYEMS |
Methodology and source verification
Month-over-month change in total nonfarm payrolls from the BLS establishment survey, in thousands of jobs.
Every administration is aligned to its own inauguration: month 1 is the month it took office, and the comparison runs to month 48 (the first term). Each administration is compared at the same month in office, so a president halfway through a term is never measured against another's full four years.
Primary source: Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). Retrieved from the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis (FRED), series PAYEMS, refreshed hourly. Latest observation 2026-09-01, first published 2026-10-02. Full methods: methodology.