Despite the many economic challenges people are facing today, including stubbornly high inflation and 401ks that are still reeling from the worst stock market drop since 2008 , many contend that we're witnessing the triumph of "Bidenomics."

The White House has been touting statistics showing 13.2 million jobs have been created during the Biden administration and that the unemployment rate fell to 3.6% in June. Not bad, right?

At least some seem to think so.

"America under President Biden has better employment numbers … than the America of 1984 when President Reagan ran morning in America ads touting the economy," said Matthew Dowd, a former political strategist for George W. Bush and MSNBC.

The thing about statistics is they can be deceiving — "Lies, damned lies, and statistics," to paraphrase the British statesman Benjamin Disraeli.

A closer look at government data reveals the labor participation rate, which has been declining for decades, is at its lowest in the last 45 years if you exclude the pandemic (more on why in a minute).

How do these data mesh with the White House's figures, which show 13 million added jobs and an employment rate of 3.6%? The answer is surprisingly simple.

Government data show there has been considerable job growth since early 2020 , with 130 million total jobs in April 2020 to 156 million in June 2023, but almost all of that job growth involved replacing jobs that were erased during the COVID-19 pandemic (there were 152 million total non-farm jobs prior to lockdowns).