Trump Says 'This Is the Greatest Economy in the History of America.'

President Donald Trump has plenty of room to brag about the American economy. Calling it the “greatest” on record may be a stretch.

“In many ways this is the greatest economy in the HISTORY of America and the best time EVER to look for a job!” he tweeted Monday afternoon. Speaking in the White House Rose Garden on Wednesday, he repeated that this is the “strongest economy we’ve ever had.”

Indeed, the economy has made major progress since the Great Recession ended in 2009, and that improvement has continued — and even strengthened by some metrics — during Trump’s 16 months in office. Jobless rates among minorities are at or near record lows, openings are at an all-time high and there are more positions available than there are unemployed.

Yet wage growth is moderate, productivity remains tepid and expansion has averaged 2.4% on a year-over-year basis since Trump took office, well below the 4.4% of the 1950s and 1960s.

“If you want to go back to the golden years, I suggest you go back to a year like 1955,” said Robert Gordon, a Northwestern University economist and author of the book The Rise and Fall of American Growth. Dwight D. Eisenhower was president that year. The post-World War II period, up until 1972, “brought sustained increases in the standard of living that are completely different from what we have today.”