Americans Not Seeking Work Jumps to 88M, Debt-Per-Household Hits $50k+: Here's a 'By the Numbers' Review of Obama's 1st Term

In honor of the second inauguration of Barack Obama as the 44th President of the United States, we thought it’d be fun to look back on the last four years to see how he has performed as Commander in Chief.

So, without any further introduction, here’s a “by the numbers” examination of President Obama’s first term:

1. Just The Facts, Ma'am:

Courtesy latimesblogs.latimes.com

From Foxnews.com:

• Number of countries visited: 35
• Number of recess appointments: 32
• Number of pardons: 22
• Number of vetoes: 2
• Addresses to the nation: 9
• Addresses to Congress, including State of the Union: 6
• Current approval rating: 47 percent
• Approval rating in January 2009: 65 percent

2. Major pieces of legislation

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• American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (i.e “The Stimulus”)
• Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (i.e “Obamacare”)
• Dodd-Frank
• Don't Ask, Don't Tell Repeal Act of 2010
• Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act
• Budget Control Act of 2011 (born from the first debt ceiling fight)
• American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012 (the end-of-year Senate-backed “fiscal cliff" deal)

3. National Debt

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• National debt when Obama took office: $10.6 trillion
• National debt today: $16.4 trillion

4. Unemployment

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• Unemployment rate in December 2008: 7.3 percent
• Unemployment rate in December 2012: 7.8 percent

5. Markets

• The Dow on Jan. 20, 2009: 7,949.09
• The Dow on Jan. 14, 2013: 13,649.70

7. U.S. Labor Force

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From CNSNews.com [emphases added]:

The number of Americans age 16 or older who decided not to work or even to seek a job increased by 8,332,000 to a record 88,839,000 in President Barack Obama’s first term, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

At the same time, the number of retired workers collecting Social Security increased by only 4,234,480.

The increase in Americans opting out of the labor force during Obama’s first term resulted in a decrease in the labor force participation rate from 65.7 percent in January 2009, the month Obama was first inaugurated, to 63.6 percent in December 2012, the latest month reported. Before Obama took office, the labor force participation rate had not been as low as 63.6 percent since 1981, the year President Ronald Reagan took over from President Jimmy Carter.

8. Americans on disability

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From CNSNews.com [emphases added]:

During President Barack Obama’s first term, the number of Americans collecting federal disability insurance increased by 1,385,418 to a record 8,827,795.

As a result, there is now one person collecting disability in this county for every 13 people working full-time. Forty-two years ago, in December 1968, there were 51 people working full-time in this country for each person collecting disability.

In January 2009, the month Obama was inaugurated, there were 7,442,377 Americans collecting federal disability insurance, according to the Social Security Administration. By December 2012, the latest month reported, there were 8,827,795 collecting disability, an increase of 1,385,418. With 115,868,000 people working full-time in December, according the Bureau of Labor Statistics, there was 1 person collecting disability for every 13 people working full-time.

9. Debt per household

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From CNSNews.com [emphasis added]:

During Barack Obama’s first term as president of the United States, the debt of the federal government increased by $5.8 trillion, which exceeds the combined debt accumulated under all presidents from George Washington through Bill Clinton.

The new federal debt accumulated in Obama's first term equaled approximately $50,521 for each of household in the country.

On Jan. 20, 2009, when Obama was first inaugurated, the total debt of the federal government was $10,626,877,048,913.08, according to the U.S. Treasury. As of the close of business on Jan. 17, the last day reported by the Treasury before Obama’s second inauguration, the total debt of the federal government was $16,432,631,489,854.70.

Thus, from Obama’s first inauguration to his second, the federal government’s debt grew by $5,805,754,440,941.62.

Given that the Census Bureau currently estimates that there are 114,916,000 households in the United States, the $5,805,754,440,941.62 debt increase under Obama equals about $50,521 per household.

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So there you have it. That's President Obama's first term in a nutshell. Enjoy the second inauguration festivities.

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Featured image courtesy Getty Images.