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Reagan inherited almost 12% unemployment from the Carter Administration, through an aggressive deregulation campaign Reagan stimulated the economy producing job growth, and brought unemployment down to about 4%. Economic experts were amazed! They said it couldn't be done and that America would need to undergo another Great Depression befor we would pull out.

The previous answer is absolutely and absurdly false. Reagan inherited a 7.20% unemployment from the Carter administration, not 12%. In 3 years it rose to it's highest post WWII to 10.80%. By the end of Reagan's 2nd term it lowered to 5.4%. The annual unemployment average during Reagan's presidency was the highest of all post-WWII presidents. It was 7.54%.

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Edit: To be fair, the 10.8% rate hit in Dec. 1982. Reagan took office Jan 1981, and didnt get a chance to write his first budget until Fiscal year 1982, which is Sept 1981. So only ONE year, not 3 as you claim. Once Reagan's policies took effect, the UE rate started dropping every month until it was 5.4% when he left office.

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The answer in the second paragraph is misleading. When Reagan took office, unemployment stood at 7.5 (January, 1981). Furthermore, at that specific time, inflation stood at 11.83%. Carter ran up the highest inflation rate since 1947 in which it was 14.76% (March 1980). Mortgage interest rates also hit nearly 20%. We can offer a big thank you not only to Carter but also to the Federal Reserve which manipulated money supply and credit. That is the reason he lost the election - the Misery Index gave him the boot. It is not true that Reagan had the highest average unemployment rate. So far Obama will take that prize unless the unemployment takes a very sharp dive to 0%, and that's unlikely. The above paragraph doesn't tell the whole truth but leaves out a lot about the economy during administrations and who is responsible for what. The Misery Index started by Carter to his embarrassment is telling enough since he had the highest Misery Inder since 1947(19.54 in December 1974). The Fed (Greenspan) under the Reagan Administration entered into monetary restriction that brought infltion under control, causing it to drop from 11.83% to 8.92% the first year. But this restriction sent unemployment up temporarily until both inflation and unemployment were tamed at the end of his first term (Unmployment=7.3%, Inflation=3.53). This was a remarkable accomplishment. Presidents can only do so much and cannot be held responsible for a lot of the drivers of inflation and unemployment. However, they can do two very substantial things that could mitigate both: reduce spending and taxes. Both of these cause a prosperous economy. The Federal Reserve policy over credit now is ruining our economy by returning us to the misguided Keynsian economic policy of more spending and higher taxes. This is Maxist economic theory that Keynes promoted.

Say what you want, but RR inherited a 7.1% unemployment rate when he took office. He managed to get it up to 10+%, the rest is wishful thinking (and he tripled the debt with his stimulas package)

Hello:) If you have a look at the bureau of statistics web site, it is pretty clear. Disregarding all other economic factors, the unemployment rate stood at 7.5 when Reagan was sworn into office on January 20 1981. After that it did shoot up, and peaked at 10.8% by the end of 1982, but steadily declined thereafter. By the election season of 1984, the rate held in the mid 7s, ironically the same rate at which Carter took his pounding back in 1980, yet Reagan won his second term by the largest margin in US history. Unemployment then declined at an even pace through his second term and when Bush 41 was inaugurated it was 5.2%.

In addition to the factors mentioned in paragraph three, Ronald Reagan was shot about 2 months into his first term. He also fired 11,000 illegally striking air traffic controllers that summer. But in 1982 the Job Training Partnership Act of 1982 was signed into law. This law, in my opinion, was one key factor in the declining unemployment rate during the rest of his administration.

The rate of unemployment, obviously, is one factor reflected in the misery index. For those who can remember just how miserable we were back in the late 70's, It's not surprising that after Reagan was elected the unemployment rate went up since the unemployment rate is measured by the number of people looking for work, not the actual number of people who don't have a job. After Reagan took office, people began to feel hopeful again, hopeful enough to go out a look for work.

Let's not forget the oil shortage in the late 1970s which involved high oil prices. The price of oil peaked in 1980 and a glut of oil decreased the price of oil from over $35 per barrel down to $10 by the mid 80s. Many oil and gas companies had big lay offs and many of the smaller companies went out of business contributing to the rise in unemployment during that time.

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11y ago
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15y ago

The annual unemployment average during Reagan's presidency was the highest of all post-WWII presidents. It was 7.54%. Unemployment during Truman's pres. was 4.08%, 4.8% during Eisenhower, 6.1% -Kennedy, 4.43% Johnson, 4.96%- Nixon, 7.27%- Ford, 6.53%- Carter, 7.54%- Reagan, 6.3%- Bush, 5.2% -Clinton and 5.38%- Bush II. Its easy to draw conclusions from such basic numbers, but economics is a complex area of study that I believe is open to theoretical interpretation.

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14y ago

When Reagan took office in 1981 unemployment was about 7.1% it fluctuated to a high of 10.8% in December 1982 and then dropped to 5.5% in 1988 when he left office.

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