Biden Takes Lying With Statistics To A Whole New Level

[Geee]

ˆssues & Insights

The headlines on Friday were that the economy created 216,000 jobs, more than expected and a sign of continued strength in the economy.

“This morning’s report confirms that 2023 was a great year for American workers,” President Joe Biden said.

Hurray!

But wait a minute. The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) previously reported that there were 157,087,000 “non-farm payroll” jobs in November. The number of these jobs in December, it now says, was 157,232,000.

 

That’s a gain of only 145,000.

So how did Biden manage to claim that the economy created 216,000 jobs in December?

Easy. All you have to do is cut the number of jobs in November by 71,000 and then measure December’s gain against that new, lower number.

Et voilà!

Instead of 157,087,000 jobs in November, the BLS now says there were 157,016,000. Subtract that from 157,232,000 and you get … 216,000!

Turns out, the BLS has been exaggerating job gains this way throughout 2023. But you’d never know that unless you dug into the data.