During his economic speech today in Detroit, Donald Trump claimed that 94.3 million Americans are out of work. The real number is approximately 21 million Americans—less than a quarter of Trump’s figure.
TRUMP’S CLAIM: “There are now 94.3 million Americans outside of the labor force.”
THE TRUTH:
PolitiFact rated Donald Trump’s claim that the U.S. had “93 million people out of work” as “False.”
Trump said, ‘We have 93 million people out of work. They look for jobs, they give up, and all of a sudden, statistically, they’re considered employed.’ That figure, boosted by Trump’s description, represents a basic misunderstanding of the labor market. Once you strip out full-time students, senior citizens, the disabled, and those who have chosen not to work to take care of their children, a more reasonable estimate of ‘out of work’ Americans is somewhere in the neighborhood of 21 million, or less than a quarter of Trump’s figure. Meanwhile, he is flat wrong that the government reclassifies discouraged workers as ‘employed.’ We rate his claim False.