How Are Trump's 2017 Jobs Statistics Comparing To Obama's From 2016?

The Bureau of Labor Statistics announced Friday that the U.S. economy gained more than the expected number of jobs in June — 222,000, outshining the forecasted 178,000 by economists and giving a boost to the Trump administration. The growth in June, however, mirrors a similar job growth in June 2016 under the Obama administration.

In June 2016, the Bureau of Labor Statistics report announced that the economy added 287,000 jobs, and outperformed projections by over 100,000 jobs — the largest jobs gain in eight months. Economists had predicted that the economy would add 180,000 jobs.

Similarly, the unemployment rate has ticked up slightly both years as a result of more people coming back into the workforce. In June 2016, the unemployment rate increased to 4.9 percent from May 2016's 4.7 percent unemployment rate and a year later, June 2017's unemployment rate ticked up to 4.4 percent from the 4.3 percent in May.

This increase in unemployment is viewed as a positive sign for the economy.

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“We’re been creating close to 200,000 jobs a month now for more than seven years. That’s just an incredible achievement. And that machine is still humming,” Moody's Analytics chief economist Mark Zandi said Friday.

The report also shows similar shifts for the rate of participation in the labor force. In 2016, the labor force increased from 62.6 percent from 62.7 percent, and in 2017 the participation rate increased from 62.7 percent to 62.8 percent.

According to analysis and reports in the Washington Post and Bloomberg, the U.S. economy under President Trump has looked almost identical to the economy under President Obama.

"For the first few months of Trump’s administration, the jobs numbers are easily better than those from Obama’s first few months, because Obama’s were totally horrible thanks to the Great Recession. Compared to 2016, though, the gains in employment this year have been basically identical," wrote Philip Bump, a National Correspondent for the Washington Post.

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The Trump administration celebrated the economic boost. Vice President Mike Pence retweeted the jobs report adding: "Since day 1, @POTUS Trump has been rolling back federal regulations & cutting red tape. His agenda continues to strengthen our economy."

White House Press Secretary and acting Communications Director Sean Spicer retweeted an article in the Free Beacon Press that celebrated the number of jobs employed in June. "153,168,000: Record Number of Americans Employed in June," wrote Spicer.

During the 2016 presidential campaign, Trump was repeatedly disparaging of the jobs numbers that showed growth under Obama, and called the economy a "disaster." However, on July 3, the president celebrated the numbers in 2017 on Twitter, tweeting that "we have just begun."