Barack Obama may be leaving office with his singular achievement in grave danger, but there is one accomplishment no one can take away from him: December 2016 finds his term ending with a record 75th straight month of job growth, according to CNN Money.
The month also saw other good news for the economy. Wages were up 2.9%, and unemployment stayed almost unchanged, at its lowest level since 2007. The so-called "underemployment" rate, which includes workers who are working part-time but want full time work, went down as well, to 9.2%.
In total, Obama's eight years in office have seen 11.3 million jobs added to the economy. However, one sector that is losing jobs is manufacturing—the country lost 45,000 of those jobs this year. Not coincidentally, this has been an issue that Donald Trump hammered on during the campaign, though many experts doubt his ability to deliver on his promises.
One other sign of trouble on the horizon is that health care has been a fast-growing sector, adding over 40,000 jobs last month. However, the incoming administration's plans to repeal Obamacare may well throw the whole industry into chaos.
However things go in the early days of a Trump administration, Obama can at least leave office knowing that he is more admired than his successor. Maybe he could've won that third term after all.
