Biden’s DNC Boast About ‘Record’ Economy Was Missing Detail

President Joe Biden’s speech at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago on Monday allowed the commander-in-chief to wholeheartedly endorse Vice President Kamala Harris for the 2024 election and reflect on the claimed success of his nearly four years in government.
Biden spent the bulk of the roughly 50-minute speech on an extended victory lap of his achievements as president, leaving no stone unturned as he ticked off domestic legislative accomplishments and foreign policy victories.
During the speech, where he reviewed his administration’s achievements, the president also discussed economic growth, a legacy that Republicans are attempting to attack Harris with. As Newsweek found out, some of Biden’s comments needed extra detail.
Biden and Harris have touted job growth over the past four years in campaign speeches, but there’s more to this statistic than meets the eye.
Newsweek’s Fact Check team has found that while 16 million jobs were added to the economy during his presidency, many of these replaced jobs lost during the pandemic.
At the start of his presidency, about 143 million Americans were in non-farm employment. As of July 2024, there are now 159 million employees.
However, pre-pandemic employment was around 152 million, dropping to a near 10-year-low of 130 million in April 2020. It took until July 2022 for this to recover.
Therefore, suggesting that the Biden administration created 16 million new jobs is somewhat misleading. The majority of these jobs were positions refilled after the pandemic’s devastation. Excluding roles refilled since the pandemic, seven million new jobs have been added to the economy.
Newsweek reached out to a media representative for Biden via email for comment.
It’s true that under the Biden administration, 16 million business applications have been submitted, based on Census Bureau data showing the number of people applying for employer identification numbers, part of the payroll process required when setting up a new business.
The number of applications has been at its highest under Biden on this measure, with former President Donald Trump in second, receiving 14.6 million applications during his administration.
These statistics, however, do not account for the number of failed businesses. Commentators have speculated that the boost in growth was a result of the pandemic, with the Bureau of Labor Statistics noting a surge in applications in September 2021.
As stated in a July 2024 analysis by U.S. Bank, the S&P 500 reached all-time highs, up by 48 percent since Biden took office. The S&P 500, short for the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index, prioritizes companies based on their market caps.
In May 2024, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose to 40,043, the first time it reached over 40,000 in its 128-year history.
Commonly referred to as the Dow, the DJIA is a stock market index that measures the stock performance of 30 large, publicly owned companies listed on stock exchanges in the United States. It is one of the world’s oldest and most widely recognized stock market indexes.
However, as noted by the U.S. Bank, there has also been “significant” volatility during that period, with the S&P 500 dropping by 25 percent in 2022. In August, Trump attempted to lay blame for the recent global stock market falls despite previously taking credit for record highs under Biden’s leadership.
Global shares began collapsing in early August as investors grew alarmed at the prospect of a U.S. recession. A Friday report from the U.S. Labor Department showed that American employers added 114,000 jobs, a significant drop from the 179,000 in June.
As reported by Yahoo News, investment firm Fidelity said, based on an analysis of 26,000 corporate plans and 24 million participants, the savings rate for 401(k)s reached 14.2 percent as of March 31, 2024, a record high it reported, with employees on average deferring 9.4 percent of their income during the first quarter of the year.
The news is somewhat tempered by other records for retirement savings, with investment adviser Vanguard stating in March, as reported by CBS News, that a record 3.6 percent of workers took hardship distributions from their 401(k)s. Withdrawing from a 401(k) before 59 and half years of age, you may have to pay an additional 10 percent tax and be unable to contribute to your 401(k) for six months after the distribution.
Hardship distributions can be used to pay for medical expenses, funeral expenses, or tuition and related educational expenses for you, your spouse, your dependents, or your primary plan beneficiary.