Trump presidential debate, Harris economic facts

When Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump take the stage for a debate in Philadelphia on Tuesday night, expect them to arrive with a stockpile of things to say about the US economy.

In the weeks leading up to the head-to-head debate, hosted by ABC News, Harris and Trump have unveiled new economic proposals. They also tried to paint the rivalry as a threat to the health and stability of the US economy.

As candidates try to frame the economy in favorable terms on Tuesday, remember these key numbers.

• 1.4%: Consumer price index in January 2021 at the start of the Biden-Harris administration. President Joe Biden has repeatedly claimed that he got the 9% inflation rate from Trump, which is false.
• 9.1%: CPI in June 2022, the height of the post-pandemic inflation spike under Biden, and the highest level since 1981. Trump has repeatedly claimed that it is the highest inflation rate in US history, but this is wrong.
• 2.9%: Annual CPI in July this year, the latest 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 falsely claimed that cumulative prices have increased by more than 50% since January 2021.
• 7.8%: The cumulative increase in prices during Trump’s four years in office, according to a CNBC analysis of CPI data over time.

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

• 6.4%: The unemployment rate in January 2021, when Biden and Harris take office. This is the highest monthly rate of the Biden-Harris administration so far.

• 17.6%: Average hourly wages have increased since Biden took office, according to a CNBC analysis of BLS data. Biden said that wage growth has outpaced inflation during his presidency, which is not true because prices have increased by a cumulative 19.4%.

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

• 6.7 million: Jobs added from the time Trump took office in January 2017 to February 2020, before the pandemic hit the US labor market.

• $8.4 trillion: Estimates of total net spending by the Trump administration. This figure represents the amount Trump approved in gross 10-year debt, minus the amount approved in deficit reduction, according to the nonpartisan Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget. If the stimulus and the Covid-19 aid package are removed from the total, the number drops to $4.8 trillion.

• $4.3 trillion: Estimated total net spending during Biden’s first three years and five months in office, per CRFB. Without the American Rescue Plan, Biden’s main pandemic stimulus package, the net total would be $2.2 trillion.

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

• 30.6%: The percentage increase in the US national debt from Biden’s Inauguration Day to this month, according to a CNBC analysis of Treasury data.

• 2.7%: The average annual growth rate of US 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 produced by the US.

• 3.4%: Average annual US GDP growth rate from 2021 to 2023, the first three years of the Biden-Harris administration. This number was raised in a hot 2021, in part because of the pandemic-era stimulus package passed by Trump and Biden.

• 12.3%: Average return from S&P 500 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.