The unemployment rate in 2012 at the end of president obama’s first term was about percent.

  8 percent

The unemployment rate in October, 2012, stood at 7.8% -- with 325,000 jobs having been added that month.  By the end of Barak Obama's presidency, the unemployment rate in the nation had dropped to 4.8%.  Overall, during Obama's years in office, nearly 12 million jobs were added to the US economy.  (11,641,000 jobs, to be exact.)  Average weekly earnings for all workers were up 4.0 percent (after adjusting for inflation).  So there was significant economic recovery during the Obama years, but it took time to get that economic recovery going.  His first term in office was mostly just stabilizing the economy, and greater growth occurred during the second term.