During his economic speech today in Detroit, Donald Trump claimed that “The 5% [unemployment rate] figures is one of the biggest hoaxes in American modern politics.” Yet according to independent fact-checkers, this claim is “in the realm of the ridiculous.”
TRUMP’S CLAIM: “The 5% figures is one of the biggest hoaxes in American modern politics.”
WHAT THE EXPERTS HAVE PREVIOUSLY SAID ABOUT HIS CLAIM:
PolitiFact rated a similar claim by Donald Trump Jr., that unemployment numbers “are artificial numbers,” as “Pants on Fire.”
Trump Jr. said that unemployment numbers ‘are artificial numbers. These are numbers that are massaged to make the existing economy look good, to make this administration look good when, in fact, it’s a total disaster.’ The economists with whom we spoke said Trump is wrong to question the integrity of the federal unemployment data. The method of developing the estimates have been used for decades, their limitations are widely recognized, other economic indicators have confirmed their reliability, and there’s no evidence that they have been massaged for political purposes. Because his claim is in the realm of the ridiculous, we rate it Pants on Fire!