AP FACT CHECK: Biden inflates jobs impact from his policies

President Joe Biden is inflating the impact of his economic policies on jobs created in his first half-year in office

Biden (Copyright 2021 The Associated Press. All rights reserved)

President Joe Biden on Wednesday inflated the impact of his policies on U.S. jobs created in his first half-year in office, misleadingly stating his administration had done more than any other president. He neglects to mention he had population growth on his side in his comparison.

A look at some of his claims during a CNN town hall in Cincinnati:

BIDEN: “We’ve created more jobs in the first six months of our administration than any time in American history. No president, no administration, has ever created as many jobs.”

THE FACTS: His claim is misleading.

While Biden’s administration in the first half year as president has seen more jobs created than any other president — just over 3 million in the five months tracked by jobs reports — that’s partly because the U.S. population is larger than in the past.

When calculated as a percentage of the workforce, job growth under President Jimmy Carter increased more quickly from February through June 1977 than the same five months this year: 2.2% for Carter, compared with 2.1% for Biden.

Since the late 1970s, the U.S. population has grown by more than 100 million people.

It’s true, though, that the economy is growing rapidly — it expanded at a 6.4% annual rate in the first three months of the year — and is expected to grow this year at the fastest pace since 1984.

Biden’s $1.9 trillion rescue package contributed to the vigorous growth, but much of the expansion also reflects a broader bounce-back from the unusually sharp pandemic recession, the deepest downturn since the 1930s. Even before Biden’s package, for example, the International Monetary Fund was projecting U.S. growth of over 5% for this year.

Biden is also leaving out the fact that the U.S. economy remains 6.8 million jobs short of its pre-pandemic level, and the unemployment rate is an elevated 5.9%, up from a five-decade low of 3.5% before the pandemic.

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Associated Press writer Christopher Rugaber contributed to this report.

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EDITOR'S NOTE — A look at the veracity of claims by political figures.

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