President Trump’s tremendous record on the economy is one of the main reasons why he deserves re-election. Today the Council of Economic Advisers published an excellent analysis of that record.

In the first 3 years of the Trump Administration, the United States economy experienced a reversal of several trends previously underway during the prior expansion. In the 7.5 years through 2016, the United States economy experienced a historically weak economic recovery, rising inequality, and increased, though slowly falling, poverty. In contrast, in the 3 years before the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, Americans experienced unprecedented gains in personal income and wealth, as pro-growth policies raised living standards while ameliorating the gap in wealth inequality for the first time since 1992.

The pro-growth policies of the Trump Administration bolstered demand for labor, bringing workers off the sidelines, leading to strong wage and income gains for American workers throughout the economy. These gains disproportionately benefited historically disadvantaged groups that experienced relatively weaker growth in the 2009-16 expansion period. This is marked by the fact that in the first 3 years of the Trump Administration, the typical family’s real income surged by over $6,000—to the highest level on record—and real wages of the lowest earners (10th percentile) grew twice as fast as those of the highest earners (90th percentile).