Wasserman Schultz Calls Trump's Economic Record 'Disastrous' as Election Looms

Representative Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL) is claiming former President Donald Trump’s (R) tenure in office was “disastrous” – especially his economic record. The Florida congresswoman stated that the 45^th President lost nearly three million jobs while in the White House while President Joe Biden (D) added 15 million jobs.

Trump’s disastrous presidency cost America nearly 3 million lost jobs.

After beating Trump, @joebiden gained them all back and 12M more. #DemocratsDeliver https://t.co/7f5AaS8Tiz

— Debbie Wasserman Schultz (@DWStweets) July 5, 2024

“Trump’s disastrous presidency cost America nearly 3 million lost jobs. After beating Trump, Joe Biden gained them all back and 12M more. #DemocratsDeliver,” said Rep. Wasserman Schultz.

This is true. However, the COVID-19 pandemic severely skewed these numbers when provided the correct context.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, President Trump added 6,691,000 jobs from January 2017 to February 2020, the month before the pandemic hit worldwide. According to factcheck.org, the U.S. economy lost 22.4 million jobs in two months (March and April of 2020) but approximately 12.54 million jobs would return by the end of Trump’s return.

This is where the figure of Trump’s overall job loss comes from.

If you take the number of jobs created under President Trump before the pandemic hit, he averaged a growth of about 180,838 per month. Had the pandemic not hit and his job production remained at that rate, Trump was on course to create nearly 8.5 million jobs, 600,000 more than former President Barack Obama (D).

As it relates to the type of nuances of Joe Biden’s presidency, a recent CNN article explains that from January 2022 to May 2024, part-time employment has risen 8.9% while full-time employment has only increased 1.5%.

Factcheck.org also states that “real” weekly earnings have dipped 2.5% under Biden as inflation has thinned the wallets of Americans. Consumer prices are up 19% overall. Under Trump, average weekly earnings rose 8.7% for all workers.

With all this in mind, Rep. Wasserman Schultz’s statement is true but a little misleading.