This statistic shows the average annual change in real GDP per capita in the United States from President Hoover to Obama, as of 2011. The biggest economic growth happened during Franklin D. Roosevelt's presidency. The Real Gross Domestic Product per capita increased by 5.25 percent each year.

Additional information on President Barack Obama’s first term economic policy performance

“It’s the economy, stupid” as the now famous saying by former President Bill Clinton goes is often used to demonstrate the importance continuants place on the economy’s performance. Appointed to President of the United States in 2008, President Obama entered the job in the early stages of a global economic crisis. The unemployment rate in the United States since 1990 demonstrates that Obama oversaw a reduction in unemployment rate since an initially sharp increase to over 9 percent in 2009 and 2010. Prior to the reduction, public approval of President Obama and the Republicans in congress in handling the economy shows that the public’s trust in Obama waned from 61 percent in February 2009 to 42 percent in November 2011. The fluctuation of America’s economy meant that Obama’s first term saw him reach an average of 76 thousand private sector jobs created per month as of June 2012, leaving him sixth in private sector job creation on the list of post-war presidents.

As leader of the most economically influential country on the planet, praise and criticism of Obama’s economic performance is also a global issue. In 2012, opinion on Obama’s management of global economic issues by country demonstrates the variety in opinion held in and across countries. While countries such as Britain and Germany whose economies appeared to be recovering held Obama’s economic policy in a positive light, opinion was more negative in Egypt and Greece were the economic situation was less optimistic.

In 1990, the unemployment rate of the United States stood at 5.6 percent. Since then there have been many significant fluctuations to this number - the 2008 financial crisis left millions of people without work, as did the COVID-19 pandemic. By the end of 2022 and throughout 2023, the unemployment rate came to 3.6 percent, the lowest rate seen for decades. However, 2024 saw an increase up to four percent. For monthly updates on unemployment in the United States visit either the monthly national unemployment rate here, or the monthly state unemployment rate here. Both are seasonally adjusted. UnemploymentUnemployment is defined as a situation when an employed person is laid off, fired or quits his work and is still actively looking for a job. Unemployment can be found even in the healthiest economies, and many economists consider an unemployment rate at or below five percent to mean there is 'full employment' within an economy. If former employed persons go back to school or leave the job to take care of children they are no longer part of the active labor force and therefore not counted among the unemployed. Unemployment can also be the effect of events that are not part of the normal dynamics of an economy. Layoffs can be the result of technological progress, for example when robots replace workers in automobile production. Sometimes unemployment is caused by job outsourcing, due to the fact that employers often search for cheap labor around the globe and not only domestically. In 2022, the tech sector in the U.S. experienced significant lay-offs amid growing economic uncertainty. In the fourth quarter of 2022, more than 70,000 workers were laid off, despite low unemployment nationwide. The unemployment rate in the United States varies from state to state. In 2021, California had the highest number of unemployed persons with 1.38 million out of work.

Abstract (en): This poll, fielded December 10-13 2009, is part of a continuing series of monthly surveys that solicit public opinion on the presidency and on a range of other political and social issues. Respondents were asked to give their opinions of President Barack Obama and his handling of the presidency, the federal budget deficit, health care, the situation in Afghanistan, unemployment, global warming, and the economy. Respondents were asked whether the Obama Administration or the Republicans in Congress could be trusted to do a better job handling the economy, health care reform, the situation in Afghanistan and energy policy. Several questions addressed health care including whether respondents supported the health care system being developed by Congress and the Obama Administration, whether they believed health care reform would increase the federal budget deficit, whether government should lower the age requirement for Medicare, and what the respondents' plan preference was for people who are not insured. Noneconomic questions focused on the role of the United States in Afghanistan, confidence in the Obama Administration in the handling of Afghanistan and the Taliban, and the environment. Other questions focused on the topics of health care in the United States, job availability, personal finances as well as opinions on professional golfer Tiger Woods. Demographic variables include sex, age, race, political political philosophy, party affiliation, education level, religious preference, household income, and whether respondents considered themselves to be a born-again Christian. The data contain a weight variable (WEIGHT) that should be used in analyzing the data. The weights were derived using demographic information from the Census to adjust for sampling and nonsampling deviations from population values. Until 2008 ABC News used a cell-based weighting system in which respondents were classified into one of 48 or 32 cells (depending on sample size) based on their age, race, sex, and education; weights were assigned so the proportion in each cell matched the Census Bureau's most recent Current Population Survey. To achieve greater consistency and reduce the chance of large weights, ABC News in 2007 tested and evaluated iterative weighting, commonly known as raking or rim weighting, in which the sample is weighted sequentially to Census targets one variable at a time, continuing until the optimum distribution across variables (again, age, race, sex, and education) is achieved. ABC News adopted rim weighting in January 2008. Weights are capped at lows of 0.2 and highs of 6. ICPSR data undergo a confidentiality review and are altered when necessary to limit the risk of disclosure. ICPSR also routinely creates ready-to-go data files along with setups in the major statistical software formats as well as standard codebooks to accompany the data. In addition to these procedures, ICPSR performed the following processing steps for this data collection: Standardized missing values.; Created online analysis version with question text.; Performed recodes and/or calculated derived variables.; Checked for undocumented or out-of-range codes.. Persons aged 18 and over living in households with telephones in the contiguous 48 United States. Households were selected by random-digit dialing. Within households, the respondent selected was the youngest adult living in the household who was home at the time of the interview. Please refer to the codebook documentation for more information on sampling. computer-assisted telephone interview (CATI)The data available for download are not weighted and users will need to weight the data prior to analysis.The variables PCTBLACK, PCTASIAN, PCTHISP, MSAFLAG, CSA, CBSA, METRODIV, NIELSMKT, BLOCKCNT, STATE, CONGDIST, and ZIP were converted from character variables to numeric.To preserve respondent confidentiality, codes for the variables FIPS (FIPS County) and ZIP (ZIP Code) have been replaced with blank codes.System-missing values were recoded to -1.The CASEID variable was created for use with online analysis.Several codes in the variable CBSA contain diacritical marks.Value labels for unknown codes were added in variables MSA, CSA, CBSA, COLLEDUC, and METRODIV. The data collection was produced by Taylor Nelson Sofres of Horsham, PA. Original reports using these data may be found via the ABC News Polling Unit Web site and via the Washington Post Opinion Surveys and Polls Web site.

As of 2022, former President Bill Clinton was the president who created the most jobs in the United States, at **** million jobs created during his eight year term in office. Former President Ronald Reagan created the second most jobs during his term, at **** million.

This poll, fielded December 10-13 2009, is part of a continuing series of monthly surveys that solicit public opinion on the presidency and on a range of other political and social issues. Respondents were asked to give their opinions of President Barack Obama and his handling of the presidency, the federal budget deficit, health care, the situation in Afghanistan, unemployment, global warming, and the economy. Respondents were asked whether the Obama Administration or the Republicans in Congress could be trusted to do a better job handling the economy, health care reform, the situation in Afghanistan and energy policy. Several questions addressed health care including whether respondents supported the health care system being developed by Congress and the Obama Administration, whether they believed health care reform would increase the federal budget deficit, whether government should lower the age requirement for Medicare, and what the respondents' plan preference was for people who are not insured. Noneconomic questions focused on the role of the United States in Afghanistan, confidence in the Obama Administration in the handling of Afghanistan and the Taliban, and the environment. Other questions focused on the topics of health care in the United States, job availability, personal finances as well as opinions on professional golfer Tiger Woods. Demographic variables include sex, age, race, political political philosophy, party affiliation, education level, religious preference, household income, and whether respondents considered themselves to be a born-again Christian.

Scholars, pundits, and politicians use opinion surveys to study citizen beliefs about political facts, such as the current unemployment rate, and more conspiratorial beliefs, such as whether Barack Obama was born abroad. Many studies, however, ignore acquiescence-response bias, the tendency for survey respondents to endorse any assertion made in a survey question regardless of content. With new surveys fielding questions asked in recent scholarship, we show that acquiescence bias inflates estimated incidence of conspiratorial beliefs and political misperceptions in the U.S. and China by up to 50%. Acquiescence bias is disproportionately prevalent among more ideological respondents, inflating correlations between political ideology such as conservatism and endorsement of conspiracies or misperception of facts. We propose and demonstrate two methods to correct for acquiescence bias.

Introduced in 1993, the Empowerment Zone (EZ), Enterprise Community (EC) , and Renewal Community (RC) Initiatives sought to reduce unemployment and generate economic growth through the designation of Federal tax incentives and award of grants to distressed communities. Local, Tribal, and State governments interested in participating in this program were required to present comprehensive plans that included the following principles: •Strategic Visions for Change, •Community-Based Partnerships, •Economic Opportunities, and •Sustainable Community Development.

Communities selected to participate in this program embraced these principles and led projects that promoted economic development in their distressed communities.

The EZ/EC initiative was implemented in the form of three competitions authorized by Congress in 1994 (round I), 1998 (round II), and 2001 (round III). These communities utilized HUD’s PERMS system to create Implementation Plans and develop Annual Reports, which can be publicly accessed here and overall, display extensive community and economic development impacts in these distressed communities.

The EC designation expired in 2004 and EZ and RC designations generally expired at the end of 2009. However, the Tax Relief, Unemployment Insurance Re-authorization, and Job Creation Act of 2010, Pub. L. No. 111-312 extended the Empowerment Zone and DC Enterprise Zone designations to December 31, 2011.

Following the end of the EZ designation extension on December 31, 2011, the American Taxpayer Relief Act (ATRA) of 2012, signed into law by President Obama on January 2, 2013, provided for an extension of the Empowerment Zone designations until December 31, 2013. The ATRA of 2012 did not extend the designation of the DC Enterprise Zone.

For the EZ designation extension, IRS Notice 2013-38 issued on May 29, 2013 (see link under the “What’s New” heading on the left) explained a one step process stating that “any nomination for an Empowerment Zone that was in effect on December 31, 2009, is deemed amended to provide for a new termination date of December 31, 2013, unless the nominating entity sends written notification to the IRS by July 29, 2013.”

Introduced in 1993, the Empowerment Zone (EZ), Enterprise Community (EC) , and Renewal Community (RC) Initiatives sought to reduce unemployment and generate economic growth through the designation of Federal tax incentives and award of grants to distressed communities. Local, Tribal, and State governments interested in participating in this program were required to present comprehensive plans that included the following principles: Strategic Visions for ChangeCommunity-Based PartnershipsEconomic OpportunitiesSustainable Community DevelopmentCommunities selected to participate in this program embraced these principles and led projects that promoted economic development in their distressed communities.The EZ/EC initiative was implemented in the form of three competitions authorized by Congress in 1994 (round I), 1998 (round II), and 2001 (round III). These communities utilized HUD’s PERMS system to create Implementation Plans and develop Annual Reports, which can be publicly accessed here and overall, display extensive community and economic development impacts in these distressed communities.The EC designation expired in 2004 and EZ and RC designations generally expired at the end of 2009. However, the Tax Relief, Unemployment Insurance Re-authorization, and Job Creation Act of 2010, Pub. L. No. 111-312 extended the Empowerment Zone and DC Enterprise Zone designations to December 31, 2011.Following the end of the EZ designation extension on December 31, 2011, the American Taxpayer Relief Act (ATRA) of 2012, signed into law by President Obama on January 2, 2013, provided for an extension of the Empowerment Zone designations until December 31, 2013. The ATRA of 2012 did not extend the designation of the DC Enterprise Zone.For the EZ designation extension, IRS Notice 2013-38 issued on May 29, 2013 explained a one step process stating that “any nomination for an Empowerment Zone that was in effect on December 31, 2009, is deemed amended to provide for a new termination date of December 31, 2013, unless the nominating entity sends written notification to the IRS by July 29, 2013.”Source: United States Department of Housing and Urban Development Community Renewal Initiative Refresh Rate: As NeededLast Updated: Nov 9, 2018

The results of this survey on the elections should be considered in the context of the current international situation. In fact, the survey's fieldwork (January/February) coincides with highly-charged international events: the inauguration of Barack Obama, the launch of his first recovery plan, the situation in Gaza, etc.

There are a number of important trends to note:

Campaign issues: unemployment is by far the campaign issue which Europeans wish to see tackled as a priority during the European electoral debate. This result confirms the enormous concern of Europeans in the face of the present situation and that which is to come, especially as regards their personal situation.

Level of awareness of the elections: the increase in awareness of the date is confirmed in comparison with the last two surveys. On the other hand, interest in the elections is not increasing and the likelihood of voting or not voting remains the same. The factors influencing the voter's choice in the election (candidates' experience both in the European and national domains, electoral program etc.) as well as the factors which cause them to abstain from voting are practically the same as those which were analysed in the EB/PE69 (Spring 2008).

The role of the EP: opinion is polarising gradually as we get closer to the election. Practically half of Europeans want to see it play a more important role while one sixth states the contrary. The number of "don't know" answers is decreasing.

Media recall of the EP: it is decreasing because of the international context as previously mentioned.

The EP and the expectations of European citizens:

The demand for greater protection of the consumer and of public health as well as a better coordination of economic, budgetary and fiscal policies are the issues citizens most want to see addressed as a priority by the EP. As unemployment is the priority campaign issue, it is absolutely clear that it is the areas associated with the daily and personal life of Europeans which are paramount. This leads to a demand for greater protection at EU level in the face of a crisis, the end of which no-one currently knows. In parallel, we note from these results that the international role of the EU is perceived as less important for European citizens. There is currently an increase in those who would like the Union to address, as a priority, their everyday problems.

As regards values, the protection of human rights in the world is still in first place with a jump of 4 percentage points. The international context, marked by an intensification of certain conflicts and by increasing repression in many regions of the world, undoubtedly has a bearing on this. It is also presumably the reason why the defence of freedom of expression, evaluated for the first time, is found in 4th place (30%) of the values which the Parliament should defend as a priority.

• Nationality of the interviewee. Satisfaction with personal life.
• The main problem that currently exists in Spain.
• Assessment of the current, retrospective (1 year) and prospective (1 year) economic situation in Spain. Assessment of the current political situation in Spain.
• Preferred political regime.
• Satisfaction with the functioning of democracy and the economy in Spain.
• Justice in the distribution of income in Spain. Self-location on a scale (1-10) of wealth.
• Location of parents and children on a scale (1-10) of wealth.
• Agreement with various phrases on democracy: If democracy is the best form of government, the government seeks to favor the few, and the influence of pressure groups.
• Trust in institutions or groups: government, television, trade unions, congress of deputies, banks, radio, police, armed forces, political parties...
• Identification of civic behaviors.
• Interest in politics. Effective actions to influence government decisions. The degree to which politics is complicated.
• Conflict between various social groups: rich and poor, entrepreneurs and workers,...
• Closeness to political parties. Political party for which you feel closer. Closeness to the political party that feels closest.
• Importance of political parties for the functioning of democracy.
• Opinion on the USA, the European Union, Japan, China, Latin America, Canada, Cuba and Venezuela.
• Assessment of relations between Spain and Latin America, Spain and the USA, and Spain and the European Union. Knowledge and assessment (1-10) of various international institutions: International Monetary Fund, World Bank, UN and OAS.
• Phrases about the socially legitimate behaviors of Spaniards: comply with the laws, demand their rights,... Trust in people.
• Scale of justification for tax evasion, pretending to be sick so as not to go to work and buying stolen goods.
• Scale of valuation of the volume of people who duly pay taxes.
• Scale of ideological self-location.
• Satisfaction with various public services: public hospitals, judicial system, green areas, roads, public transport, garbage collection, sewerage,...
• Retrospective assessment of the reduction of corruption in institutions (2 years).
• Means by which political affairs are reported. Knowledge and rating scale (0-10) of international leaders:José Mújica, Fidel Castro, Hugo Chávez, Evo Morales, Barack Obama, Rafael Correa, Daniel Ortega, Mauricio Funes, etc. Possibility of unemployment in the next year.
• Scope of family income. Religiousness.
• Health insurance generally used by the interviewee.
• Household equipment.
• Use, main use and places of connection to the Internet. Connection to social networking services on the internet.

description: The purpose of the Making Home Affordable (MHA) Data File is to provide the general public with a comprehensive view of the Obama Administration's MHA programs to more fully understand their impact in a continued commitment to transparency. Because protecting the identities of MHA participants is of primary importance, the Treasury Department conducts a thorough analysis and takes steps to ensure the anonymity of individual borrowers. The MHA Data File consists of three sets of loan-level mortgage modification data: The First Lien Modification Program, the Second Lien Modification Program, and the Home Affordable Foreclosure Alternatives Program. The First Lien Modification Program also contains one additional subset - the net present value (NPV) file. Each set is subdivided into ten geographic regions that cover the United States and its territories. The data are presented in comma separated value (CSV) format and total roughly 3 gigabytes in size. The information contained in these files is data reported by servicers. Please consult the MHA Data File User Guide for a description of certain data quality issues and variances which could affect the use or interpretation of the data. Treasury and the MHA Program Administrator continue to work with servicers to monitor data quality and remediate known issues. These files are cumulative and will be refreshed monthly, providing users with up-to-date MHA data. The Making Home Affordable Data Files include information on: Home Affordable Foreclosure Alternatives (HAFA) Program, Principal Reduction Alternative (PRA), Second Lien Modification Program (2MP), Home Affordable Unemployment Program (UP), FHA-HAMP and Rural Development HAMP (RD-HAMP). PRA, UP, Treasury FHA-HAMP, and RD-HAMP are included in the First Lien Modification files, with 2MP and HAFA in separate files. The Making Home Affordable Data File User Guide has been updated to reflect these additions.; abstract: The purpose of the Making Home Affordable (MHA) Data File is to provide the general public with a comprehensive view of the Obama Administration's MHA programs to more fully understand their impact in a continued commitment to transparency. Because protecting the identities of MHA participants is of primary importance, the Treasury Department conducts a thorough analysis and takes steps to ensure the anonymity of individual borrowers. The MHA Data File consists of three sets of loan-level mortgage modification data: The First Lien Modification Program, the Second Lien Modification Program, and the Home Affordable Foreclosure Alternatives Program. The First Lien Modification Program also contains one additional subset - the net present value (NPV) file. Each set is subdivided into ten geographic regions that cover the United States and its territories. The data are presented in comma separated value (CSV) format and total roughly 3 gigabytes in size. The information contained in these files is data reported by servicers. Please consult the MHA Data File User Guide for a description of certain data quality issues and variances which could affect the use or interpretation of the data. Treasury and the MHA Program Administrator continue to work with servicers to monitor data quality and remediate known issues. These files are cumulative and will be refreshed monthly, providing users with up-to-date MHA data. The Making Home Affordable Data Files include information on: Home Affordable Foreclosure Alternatives (HAFA) Program, Principal Reduction Alternative (PRA), Second Lien Modification Program (2MP), Home Affordable Unemployment Program (UP), FHA-HAMP and Rural Development HAMP (RD-HAMP). PRA, UP, Treasury FHA-HAMP, and RD-HAMP are included in the First Lien Modification files, with 2MP and HAFA in separate files. The Making Home Affordable Data File User Guide has been updated to reflect these additions.