Presidential debate Trump, Harris – economic facts

When Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump take the debate stage in Philadelphia on Tuesday night, they are expected to bring with them a stash of talking points about the U.S. economy.

In the weeks leading up to their debate moderated by ABC News, both Harris and Trump have put forward new economic policy proposals and sought to portray their rival as a threat to the health and stability of the U.S. economy.

Keep these important numbers in mind as candidates try to paint the economy in a positive light on Tuesday.

• 1.4%: The Consumer Price Index in January 2021 at the start of the Biden-Harris administration. President Joe Biden has repeatedly claimed that he inherited a 9% inflation rate from Trump, which is false.
• 9.1%: The June 2022 Consumer Price Index (CPI) was the peak of the post-pandemic inflation increase under Biden and the highest rate since 1981. Trump has repeatedly claimed that this was the highest inflation rate in U.S. history, but that is false.
• 2.9%: The annual CPI in July this year, the most recent reading. This is the lowest 12-month inflation rate since March 2021. The next CPI report will be released on Wednesday.
• 19.4% The cumulative increase in prices since Biden and Harris took office, according to a CNBC analysis of CPI data. Trump has falsely claimed that cumulative prices have risen by more than 50% since January 2021.
• 7.8%: According to a CNBC analysis of consumer price index data over time, the cumulative price increase during Trump’s four years in office is that high.

• 14.8%: The unemployment rate in April 2020, the highest single month of the Trump administration as employers lost jobs due to Covid-19. It was also the highest monthly rate since the BLS first began tracking unemployment in 1948.

• 6.4%: The unemployment rate in January 2021, when Biden and Harris took office. This was the highest monthly rate of the Biden-Harris administration to date.

• 17.6%: The average hourly wage increase since Biden took office, according to a CNBC analysis of BLS data. Biden claims that wage growth during his presidency outpaced inflation, which is untrue, as prices have risen 19.4% cumulatively.

• 15.9 million: The jobs created so far under the Biden-Harris administration, according to BLS data.
• 2.7 million: The net number of jobs lost during the Trump administration, a figure largely due to the economic recession caused by the pandemic.

• 6.7 million: The number of new jobs created ranges from when Trump took office in January 2017 to February 2020, just before the pandemic devastated the U.S. labor market.

• 8.4 trillion US dollars: The estimated total net spending of the Trump administration. This figure represents the amount Trump authorized in gross borrowing over 10 years, minus the amount he authorized to reduce the deficit, according to the bipartisan Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget. When the stimulus and Covid-19 relief packages are subtracted from the total, that figure drops to $4.8 trillion.

• 4.3 trillion US dollars: The estimated total net spending during Biden’s first three years and five months in office, according to CRFB. Without the American Rescue Plan, Biden’s major pandemic stimulus package, the net total drops to $2.2 trillion.

• 39.1%: The percentage increase in U.S. national debt from Trump’s inauguration day to Biden’s inauguration day, according to a CNBC analysis of Congressional Research Service figures.

• 30.6%: The percentage increase in U.S. national debt from the day of Biden’s inauguration through this month, according to a CNBC analysis of Treasury Department data.

• 2.7%: The average annual growth rate of U.S. gross domestic product from 2017 to 2019, the first three years of Trump’s presidency before the economic crash caused by Covid-19, according to World Bank data. GDP measures the value of goods and services the United States produces.

• 3.4%: The average annual growth rate of U.S. GDP from 2021 to 2023, the first three years of the Biden-Harris administration. That figure was boosted by a torrid 2021, fueled in part by the numerous pandemic-era stimulus packages passed by both Trump and Biden.

• 12.3%: Average return of S&P500 from 2021 to 2023, the first three years of the Biden-Harris administration, according to figures from Berkshire Hathaway.

• 16.3%: Average return of the S&P 500 from 2017 to 2019, the first three years of the Trump White House.