According to Yahoo Finance’s “Bidenomics Report Card,” which measures six economic indicators, a falling stock market and dip in wages are to blame for President Biden’s “B” grade this month.
The data, which comes from Moody’s Analytics, compares the current president with his seven predecessors, in categories including total employment, manufacturing employment, exports, real GDP per capita, average hourly earnings, and S&P 500. Biden outperforms all of the others in three categories, six of them in one category, and four of them in another. In the hourly earnings, though, he is in last place, accounting for his drop from a grade of “A-” last month.
Nominal wage growth was strong, according to the metrics, but with adjustments for inflation – now at 8.5% – real wages have fallen about 2% during Biden’s term.
To fend off further inflation, the Federal Reserve has started to raise interest rates, and most economists are now predicting a recession, according to Yahoo Finance. In the first quarter, GDP fell by 1.4%, but Moody’s expects to see annualized growth of 3.6% in the second quarter and 2.8% for the full year. Whether the increases in food and energy prices due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine will continue or subside would affect outcomes.
President Trump finished with a “C,” due in large part to huge job losses and GDP contraction following the COVID outbreak. President Obama received a “B-” on the Yahoo Finance scale, with weak employment and GDP growth to blame.
Despite Biden’s comparatively good report, consumer confidence is low, as Americans tend to gauge the state of the economy by what they pay at the cash register. Unemployment is at a near-record-low 3.6%.
Yahoo Finance predicts that Biden’s score will improve with a slight uptick in earnings, stocks, or manufacturing employment.
