Keith Marsden: " The U.S. employment rate, measured by the percentage of people of working age (16-65 years) in jobs, has remained high by international standards. The latest OECD figures show a rate of 71.7 percent in 2006. This was more than five percentage points above the average for the euro area. "The U.S. unemployment rate averaged 4.7 percent from 2001-2007. This compares with a 5.2 percent average rate during President Clinton's term of office, and is well below the euro zone average of 8.3 percent since 2000. " Debt interest payments. The IMF reports that the interest cost of servicing general government debt in the U.S. has averaged 2.0 percent of GDP annually from 2001-2008, compared with 2.7 percent in the euro zone. It averaged 3.2 percent annually when President Clinton was in office."