Obama's labour market report card: not bad, could have done better

The US job market is at least in better shape than it was in when he assumed office, just months after the collapse of Lehmans

So that's it. The last jobs report of Barack Obama's presidency has been published and the figures encapsulate his eight-year presidency. Job creation in December was not bad at 156,000, simply a bit mediocre. Better was expected.

In Obama's defence, he was left the worse possible legacy. The world's biggest economy was in freefall when he arrived in the White House in early 2009. Lehman Brothers had gone bust six weeks before the November 2008 presidential election and the Federal Reserve had taken emergency action to stimulate growth as fears grew that the clock was about to be turned back to the 1930s.

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