President Trump claimed during his address to Congress Tuesday that there are 94 million Americans out of the labor force, a number that experts say is misleading. As Politico's Michael Grunwald points out, "the vast majority of them are seniors, students, and the disabled," not the unemployed.
A PolitiFact article from August 31, 2015, also shows that Trump has been making a similar claim for some time. While speaking with Sarah Palin, Trump said that "93 million people" are out of work. "They look for jobs, they give up, and all of a sudden, statistically, they're considered unemployed." Trump's press office did not respond to PolitiFact's request for insight into where he got that number, but they had an idea that it came from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, which reported that in July 2015, 92 to 93 million members of the civilian, non-institutionalized population over the age of 16 were not in the labor force. That, however, includes high schoolers who are at least 16, college and grad school students, people with disabilities who are unable to work, stay-at-home parents, and people living off of investments. PolitiFact found that out of those 16 and up classified as "not in the labor force," 9.7 million were between the ages of 16 and 19, while 37.8 million were older than 65. The official number of unemployed Americans at the time was 8.3 million.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
-
Sail in style onboard the brand-new Explora IIThe Week Recommends Hit the high seas on a luxury cruise from Barcelona to Rome
-
Is the EU funding Russia more than Ukraine?The Explainer EU remains largest importer of Russian fossil fuels despite sanctions aimed at crippling Kremlin's war effort
-
Posh crisps: an 'elite' tier of snackingThe Week Recommends Hand-cooked and dusted in 'decadent' flavours, the humble potato chip is being elevated to new levels
-
Crypto firm Coinbase hacked, faces SEC scrutinySpeed Read The Securities and Exchange Commission has also been investigating whether Coinbase misstated its user numbers in past disclosures
-
Starbucks baristas strike over dress codespeed read The new uniform 'puts the burden on baristas' to buy new clothes, said a Starbucks Workers United union delegate
-
Warren Buffet announces surprise retirementspeed read At the annual meeting of Berkshire Hathaway, the billionaire investor named Vice Chairman Greg Abel his replacement
-
Trump calls Amazon's Bezos over tariff displaySpeed Read The president was not happy with reports that Amazon would list the added cost from tariffs alongside product prices
-
Markets notch worst quarter in years as new tariffs loomSpeed Read The S&P 500 is on track for its worst month since 2022 as investors brace for Trump's tariffs
-
Tesla Cybertrucks recalled over dislodging panelsSpeed Read Almost every Cybertruck in the US has been recalled over a stainless steel panel that could fall off
-
Crafting emporium Joann is going out of businessSpeed Read The 82-year-old fabric and crafts store will be closing all 800 of its stores
-
Trump's China tariffs start after Canada, Mexico pausesSpeed Read The president paused his tariffs on America's closest neighbors after speaking to their leaders, but his import tax on Chinese goods has taken effect
