<P> Spending during the years Reagan budgeted (FY 1982--89) averaged 21.6% GDP, roughly tied with President Obama for the highest among any recent President . Each faced a severe recession early in their administration . In addition, the public debt rose from 26% GDP in 1980 to 41% GDP by 1988 . In dollar terms, the public debt rose from $712 billion in 1980 to $2.052 trillion in 1988, a roughly three-fold increase . The unemployment rate rose from 7% in 1980 to 11% in 1982, then declined to 5% in 1988 . The inflation rate declined from 10% in 1980 to 4% in 1988 . </P> <P> Some economists have stated that Reagan's policies were an important part of bringing about the second longest peacetime economic expansion in U.S. history . During the Reagan administration, the American economy went from a GDP growth of - 0.3% in 1980 to 4.1% in 1988 (in constant 2005 dollars), averaging 3.4% annual growth in constant dollars . This reduced the unemployment rate by 1.6%, from 7.1% in 1980 to 5.5% in 1988 . A net job increase of about 21 million also occurred through mid-1990 . Reagan's administration is the only one not to have raised the minimum wage . The inflation rate, 13.5% in 1980, fell to 4.1% in 1988, which was achieved by applying high interest rates by the Federal Reserve (peaking at 20% in June 1981). The latter contributed to a relatively brief recession in late 1981 and early 1982 where unemployment rose to 9.7% and GDP fell by 1.9% . Additionally, income growth slowed for middle - and lower - class (2.4% to 1.8%) and rose for the upper - class (2.2% to 4.83%) during Reagan's trickle - down policies . </P> <P> The misery index, defined as the inflation rate added to the unemployment rate, shrank from 19.33 when he began his administration to 9.72 when he left, the greatest improvement record for a President since Harry S. Truman left office . In terms of American households, the percentage of total households making less than $10,000 a year (in real 2007 dollars) shrank from 8.8% in 1980 to 8.3% in 1988 while the percentage of households making over $75,000 went from 20.2% to 25.7% during that period, both signs of progress . </P> <P> The job growth under the Reagan administration was an average of 2.1% per year, with unemployment averaging 7.5% . The unemployment averaged 6.4% under President Carter and 7.8% under President Ford . Towards the end of his second term, however, the unemployment rate dropped to 5.4% . </P>

When did the united states government increases its regulation of the economy