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Jobs & The Economy:
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Jobs
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22.2 million new jobs created since 1993 -- the most jobs
ever created under a single Administration,administration, and more jobs
than Presidents Reagan and Bush created during their three terms.
Under President Clinton, the economy has added an average of 245,000248,000
jobs per month, the highest of any President on record. This compares
to 52,000 per month under President Bush and 167,000 per month under President
Reagan. [Bureau of Labor Statistics]
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Unemployment
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Down from 7.5 percent in 1992 to 3.9 percent in September,
the lowest in more than three decades. The unemployment rate has fallen
for seven years in a row, and has remained below 5 percent for 37 months
in a row -- over three full years. [Bureau of Labor Statistics]
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Income
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Median family income has increased from $42,612 in 1993
to $48,950 in 1999 - an $6,338 increase. In contrast, median family income
fell from $44,354 in 1988 to $42,490 in 1992. [Census
Bureau, Money Income in the United States: 1999, 9/26/00]
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Wages
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Real wages have risen 6.66.5 percent since 1993, compared
to declining 4.3 percent during the Reagan and Bush years. Real
wage growth in 1998 reached 2.6 percent -- the largest increase since
1972. Wages have increased five years in a row -- the longest consecutive
increase since the 1960s. In the last 12 months, average hourly earnings
have sustained growth since the early 1970s.increased 3.8 percent -- faster
than the rate of inflation. [National Economic Council, 1/7/00]6/00]
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Tax Cuts
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15 million additional working families receive additional
tax relief through the President's expansion of the Earned Income Tax
Credit. In 1999, the EITC lifted 4.1 million out of poverty -- nearly
double the number who were removed from poverty in 1993. Over half of
the people removed from poverty by the EITC (2.3 million) were children
under the age of 18. [National Economic Council, 9/26/00]
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$500 per-child
tax credit
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27 million families with 45 million children receive the
$500 per-child tax credit. [Treasury Department]
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Minimum Wage
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10 million Americans received an increase in wages thanks
to the President's leadership in raising the minimum wage from $4.25 to
$5.15 per hour. [Good News for Low Income Families: Expansions
in the EITC and Minimum Wage, CEA, 12/98]
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New Businesses
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More than 5.9 million new businesses have been created since
1993. [Small Business Administration, 1/00]
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National Debt
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Paid off $360 billion of the national debt over three years,
and public debt is on track to be $2.4 trillion lower in 2000 than was
projected in 1993. There is $25,000 less debt for each family of four
than in 1993. With the President's plan, we are on track to eliminate
the nation's publicly held debt by at least 2012. [Presidential
Statement, 7/31/00]
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Home Ownership
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Reached 67.2 percent in the second quarter of 2000 -- the
highest ever recorded. Minority homeownership rates were also the highest
ever recorded. In contrast, the homeownership rate fell from 65.6
percent in the first quarter of 1981 to 63.7 percent in the first quarter
of 1993. [Bureau of the Census, 9/28/99][Census Bureau, 7/26/00]
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Expanding Educational Opportunity: Elementary and Secondary Schools
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Teachers
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Nearly 30,000 new, well-prepared teachers were hired for
fall 1999 with funds from the first down payment on the President's seven-year
plan to reduce class size by hiring 100,000 teachers. [Education
Department, Local Success Stories - Reducing Class Size, 11/99]
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After School Programs
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850,000 school-age children in rural and urban communities
will have safe and educational after-school opportunities in 2000 because
of the expanded 21st Century Community Learning Centers program -- 375,000
more than last year. [Education Department]
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Education Technology
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30 million children and up to 47,000 schools and libraries
are being connected to the Internet though the E-rate. In the fall of
1998, 891999, 95 percent of public schools were connected to the Internet.
In 1994, just 35 percent were connected. Internet -- up from 35 percent
in 1994. In 1999, 63 percent of all public school classrooms were connected
to the Internet -- up from 3 percent in 1994. [FY 2000 Budget,
p. 67; National Center for Education Statistics, Issue Brief NCES 99-017,
2/99]Stats in Brief NCES 2000-086, 2/00]
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Title I
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1111 million low-income students in 13,000 school districts
now benefit from higher expectations and a challenging curriculum geared
to higher standards. And through better targeting of federal funds, Title
I funds now reach 95 percent of highest poverty schools, up from 79 percent
in 1993-94. [Education Department, Challenging the Status
Quo: The Education Record, 1993-2000, 4/00] [Statement
of the Secretary of Education before the U.S. Senate Committee on Health,
Education, Labor, and Pensions, 2/9/99]
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Charter Schools
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Increased the number of charter schools from one in 1993
to 1,7002,000 today. More than 250,000 students nationwide are now enrolled
in charter schools in 30 states and the District of Columbia.
Won $145 million in the FY00 budget, to provide startup funding
to as many as 2,400 charter schools. Charter schools help expand choice
and accountability in public schools. [Education Department,
8/28/99; White House at Work, 2/11/00]
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America Reads Challenge
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1,400 colleges and universities joined the President's America
Reads Challenge, and 26,700 college work-study students now serve as reading
tutors to help every child to read well and independently by the third
grade. [Education Department, Challenging the Status Quo:
The Education Record, 1993-2000, 4/00]
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Mentoring
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Won a 67 percent funding increase so that 482,000 middle
school students will be prepared for college this year through expanded
mentoring efforts as part of GEAR UP. [Education Department]
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School-To-Work
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516,000 high school students and nearly 178,000 employers
participated in school-to-work programs in 1998. [Progress
Measures Report, 1999, MPR Associates, National School-to-Work Office,
Education Department]
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Scores Are Up
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Since 1992, average SAT scores have increased by 15 points.
In 1998, students posted the highest math scores in 27 years on the SAT.
And the number of high school students taking Advanced Placement exams
tripled between 1984 and 1997. [College Board, 9/1/98; Center
on Education Policy, Do You Know…The Good News About American Education?]
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Expanding Educational Opportunity: Postsecondary Education and Training
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Tuition Tax Credits
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In 1999, an estimated 10 million American families claimed
the HOPE Scholarship and Lifetime Learning Tax Credits to help pay for
college.
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Pell Grants
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3.9 million low-income students will receive a Pell Grant
award to help them attend college. In the FY00 budget, the President increased
the maximum Pell Grant award from $3,000 to $3,300 -- the largest maximum
award ever. The maximum award has increased 43 percent since 1993. [Office
of Student Financial Assistance, Department of Education: Interim Performance
Objectives, Final Report FY99]
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Direct Loan Program
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More than 5 million student and parent borrowers have received
direct loans since the program began.
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Reduced Loan Fees
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Since 1993, students have saved $8.7 billion through lower
student loan fees and interest rates. [Department of Education,
Statement by Secretary Riley, 10/5/99]
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Student Loan Default
Rate Declines
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The student loan default rate declined from 22.4 percent
in 1990 to 6.9 percent today, the lowest rate ever. Collections on defaulted
student loans have tripled, from $1 billion in 1993 to $4 billion last
year. [Education Department Press Release, 10/2/00]
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AmeriCorps
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More than 150,000 volunteers have earned money for college
by serving their communities and their country in the AmeriCorps program
since the program began in 1994. [Corporation for National
Service, Press Release, 10/16/99]
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Work Study
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One million students will be able to work their way through
college this year thanks to the President's expansion of the Work Study
Program. [Office of Student Financial Assistance, Department
of Education: Interim Performance Objectives, Final Report FY99]
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College Enrollment Up
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67 percent of high school graduates went on to college in
1998, compared to 62 percent in 1992. The percentage of African American
high school graduates enrolling in college increased from 48 percent in
1992 to 59 percent in 1997 -- the highest number ever.
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Retrained Workers
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An estimated 836,000 American workers will benefit this
year from the dislocated worker program. President Clinton won a $190
million increase in FY 2000, bringing the total investment to $1.6 billion
and allowing the program to serve more than three times as many dislocated
workers.
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Crime and Public Safety
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Declining Crime Rates
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Under the Clinton-Gore Administration, America has experienced
the longest continuous drop in crime on record. The overall crime rate
is the lowest in 25 years, and in 1999 crime fell for the eighth consecutive
year nationwide. Violent crime rate fell 7 percent in 1999 and 27 percent
since 1993. Since 1993, the murder rate is down more than 25 percent to
its lowest point since 1967, and gun violence has declined by more than
35 percent. [Bureau of Justice Statistics, 1998 National
Crime Victimization Survey; Federal Bureau of Investigation, Uniform
Crime Reports for the United States 1998, 1999; FY 2001 Budget, p.
107]
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Juvenile Arrests Down
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In 1998, the nation saw an 8 percent drop in the juvenile
violent crime arrests. [FBI's Uniform Crime Reports for
the United States 1998]
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Community Policing
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Reached the President's goal of funding 100,000 more community
police officers for our streets in May 1999 -- ahead of schedule and under
budget. President Clinton won funding in the FY00
budget to begin hiring an additional 50,000 officers by 2005. [Justice
Department, COPS program, 5/12/99]
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Brady Bill
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More than 470,000536,000 felons, fugitives and stalkers
have been stopped from buying guns since the Brady Law was enacted. [Bureau
of Justice Statistics, Background Checks for Firearm Transfers, 1999,
6/00]
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Improving Officer Safety
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In its first year, the Bulletproof Vest Partnership Grant
Act helped state and local law enforcement purchase 92,500 bulletproof
vests. [White House Fact Sheet, 5/15/00]
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"Zero-Tolerance" for Guns In Schools
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Over 13,500 students have been expelled from public schools
for bringing weapons to school under zero tolerance policies established
by the Gun Free Schools Act, which was passed in 1994. [Dept.
of Education, Report on State Implementation of the Gun-Free Schools
Act, 1998-99]
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Domestic Violence Hotline
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More than 458,000 calls have been received by the nationwide,
24-hour domestic violence hotline President Clinton established.
[Domestic Violence Hotline, Semi-Annual Program Report,
10/1/99-3/31/00]
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Strengthening Families
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Family & Medical Leave
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Nearly 91 million workers are covered by the Family and
Medical Leave Act -- 71 percent of the American labor force. Millions
of Americans have taken job-protected leave. [Five Years
of Success: Report on FMLA, Department of Labor, 8/98 (updated number
provided 7/99)]
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Welfare to Work
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7.8 million fewer people are receiving welfare benefits
today than in 1993, a 56 percent decrease. The percentage of Americans
on welfare is the lowest since 1965, and millions of Americans have moved
from welfare to work -- 1.3 million in 1998 alone. The percentage of adults
on welfare who were working reached an all-time high of 33 percent in
1999, nearly five times the percent in 1992. [HHS Press Release,
8/22/00]
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Head Start
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Head Start will reach a total of 880,000 children in FY
2000 and will serve one million children and their families by the year
2002. The President and Vice President have expanded Head Start funding
by 90 percent since 1993. [Head Start Fact Sheet; Administration
of Children and Families, HHS; 1/99]
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Child Care
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Child care funding has increased by 80 percentmore than
doubled under the Clinton-Gore Administration, helping parents pay for
the care ofmore than one million children. An average of 1.25 million
children were served by states under the child care block grant in FY
1997 -- a 25 percent increase from the estimated 1 million children served
in FY 1996. The 1996 welfare1.5 million children and the1996 welfare reform
law increased child care funding by $4 billion over six years to provide
child care assistance to families moving from welfare to years. [FY
2000work. [FY 2001 Budget, p. 76]59]
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Child Poverty
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The child poverty rate has dropped from 22.7 percent in
1993 to 16.9 percent in 1999 -- the biggest six-year drop in nearly 30
years, and the lowest child poverty rate since 1979. [Census
Bureau, Poverty in the United States: 1999, 9/26/00]
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Increasing Adoptions
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In 1999, 46,000 foster care children were adopted – more
than a 64 percent increase since 1996 and well on the way to meeting the
President's goal of doubling the number of adoptions from 28,000 in 1996
to 56,000 by 2002. [HHS Press
Release, 9/20/00]
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Teen Pregnancy
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The teen birth rate has fallen eight years in a row, dropping
by 20 percent from 1991 to 1999 to the lowest rate ever recorded in the
60 years this data has been collected. The teen pregnancy rate is also
at a record low. [Centers for Disease Control, National Vital
Statistics Report, 8/08/00]
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Child Abuse
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Child abuse has declined for five years in a row, down approximately
11 percent from a record 1,018,692 in 1993. [HHS Press Release,
4/10/00]
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Child Support Collections
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Federal and state child support programs broke new records,
nearly doubling records in 1999, collecting nearly $16 billion -- doublethe
amount collected in 1992. The number of child support cases with collections
more than doubled during the Clinton Administration, from 2.8 million
in 1992 to 4.5 million in 1999. [Child
Support Enforcement FY 1999 Preliminary Data Report, 10/00] support payments
-- more than double the number found during the previous year.
[HHS]
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Improving Our Nation's Health
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Patients' Bill of Rights
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85 million people covered by Federal health plans, and Medicare
and Medicaid, received patient protections -- protections included in
the President's Patients' Bill of Rights -- thanks to executive action
taken by President Clinton. [FY 2000 Budget, p. 85]
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More Americans Have Health Insurance
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From 1998 to 1999, the number of Americans with health insurance
rose by 1.7 million -- two-thirds of them children. This is the first
decline in the number of uninsured in 12 years. [Census Bureau,
Health Insurance Coverage: 1999, 9/28/00]
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Health Insurance Reform
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As many as 25 million people will benefit from the Health
Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, which helps millions of
Americans who move from one job to another, are self-employed, or have
pre-existing medical conditions keep their health insurance. [FY
2000 Budget, p. 83]
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Eliminating Fraud
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Health care convictions have increased 80 percent since
1992, saving more than $500 billion in health care claims thanks to the
Clinton-Gore Administration's efforts to eliminate waste, fraud and abuse.
Since 1993, the Administration has assigned more federal prosecutors and
FBI agents to fight health care fraud than ever before. [HHS
Fact Sheet, 2/22/00]
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Children's Health Care
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As many as 5 million more children will receive health insurance
under President Clinton's State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP).
As of June 2000, approximately 2.5 million children were enrolled in SCHIP.
[White House Fact Sheet, 1/11/00, 9/29/00]
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Infant Mortality
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There has been a 15.2 percent decrease in the infant mortality
rate -- to the lowest level in history -- from 8.5 in 1992 to 7.2 in 1997.
[America's Children: Key National Indicators of Well-Being,
NIH, 7/8/99]
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Immunization
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Childhood immunization coverage rates in 1998 were the highest
ever recorded. Over 90 percent of America's toddlers received the most
critical doses of each of the routinely recommended vaccines in 1996,
1997, and again in 1998. With childhood vaccination levels at an all-time
high, disease and death from diphtheria, pertussis, tetanus, measles,
mumps, rubella and Hib are at or near record lows. [HHS Fact
Sheet, 9/23/99, 12/31/99]
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WIC
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7.3 million women, infants, and children -- 1.4 million
more than in 1993 -- have access to health care, supplemental foods, nutrition
and breastfeeding education thanks to WIC. [Food and Nutrition
Service, USDA, 9/99]
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Biomedical Research
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Two years ago, the President called for an increase of almost
50 percent over 5 years in the NIH budget as part of his Research for
America Fund. Since then, the NIH budget has increased by over $4.3 billion
and with the funding proposed by the President this year, the Administration
will be one year ahead of schedule in reaching the 50 percent goal. [Domestic
Policy Council]
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Food Safety
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Two years after President Clinton's meat and poultry inspection
system went into place, the number of Americans stricken by the most common
forms of foodborne illness has declined by almost 20 percent. Overall,
855,000 fewer Americans became ill from bacteria in their food in 1999
than two years before. [Centers for Disease Control and Prevention]
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Government That Works Better
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Reinventing Government
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The Vice President's National Performance Review recommended
and Congress adopted savings of about $136 billion since 1993. [National
Performance Review, Accomplishments fact sheet]
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Smaller Government
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There are 377,000 fewer employees in the Federal government
workforce than in 1993 -- nearly a fifth -- giving us the smallest Federal
workforce since 1960. [National Partnership for Reinventing
Government, Accomplishments fact sheet; National Economic Council, 6/26/00]
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Lower Government Spending
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At 18.5 percent, Federal Government spending as a share
of the Gross Domestic Product is at its lowest level since 1966. [National
Economic Council, 6/26/00]
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Motor Voter
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28 million new voters registered to vote -- and voting was
made easier for millions more Americans -- since 1995 because of the National
Voter Registration Act.
[FEC, 6/99; FEC, 6/97]
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Environment
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Toxic Waste Sites
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Completed cleanup at more than 510530 Superfund sites, more
than fourthree times as many as completed in the previous two Administrations.twelve
years. Cleanup of more than 9091 percent of all sites either completed
or in progress. The Administration's brownfields redevelopment initiative
has leveraged over $2.3 billion in private sector investment and generated
6,400 jobs. [[Environmental Protection Agency, Superfund
NPL Construction Completions Since 1/20/93 to 6/22/99]EPA, Construction
Completions at National Priorities List Sites, as of 7/27/00; EPA, www.epa.gov,
8/24/00]
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National Parks
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The National Park System has increased by about 4.56 million
acres during the Clinton-Gore Administration. The President has also created
13 new national park areas and has significantly expanded others, like
Joshua Tree and Death Valley National Parks in California. [Protecting
Our National Treasures, Department of Interior]
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Preserving Our National Treasures
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Protected tens of millions of acres, from the red rock canyons
of Utah to the Florida Everglades. Reached historic agreements to protect
Yellowstone from mining and save the ancient redwoods of California's
Headwaters Forest. [Protecting Our National Treasures,
Department of Interior]
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Safe Drinking Water
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Since 1993, 22.5 million more Americans receive drinking
water that meets all federal health standards. Ninety-one percent of America's
tap water from community drinking water systems meets all federal standards.
[EPA, Summary of the 20002001
Budget, p. 30]33]
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Clean Air
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Since 1993, the number of Americans living in communities
that meet federal air quality standards has grown by 43 million. [White
House, Council on Environmental Quality, 5/1/99]
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Encouraging Recycling
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Americans recycle 22 million tons more material than in
1992 -- thanks to that effort, the United States will discard less
waste in 2000 than in 1992. We recycle more of our municipal waste than
any major country in the world. [White
House, Council on Environmental Quality]
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1/00October 2000
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