Investigating the veracity: Harris incorrectly asserts Trump's stance on manufacturing employment.
Interviewer Stephanie Ruhle asked Harris about her thoughts on surveys suggesting most voters believe Trump is better at handling the economy.
Harris replied, "Here's what I understand based on facts. Donald Trump handed us an economy as bad as during the Great Depression, particularly considering job figures, like for instance, employment rates." After Ruhle interjected, mentioning the negative impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on employment figures, Harris continued, "Even prior to the pandemic, he lost manufacturing jobs - according to most estimations, at least 200,000."
Fact Check:Harris' statement is inaccurate. Trump oversaw a gain of 414,000 US manufacturing jobs before the Covid-19 pandemic hit, rather than a loss of “at least 200,000,” as Harris claimed. Furthermore, the overall loss in manufacturing jobs during Trump's tenure was 178,000, not 200,000 or more, as Harris stated.
Trump and Manufacturing Jobs
There are numerous factors causing job numbers to fluctuate aside from a president. Even if you attribute all job gains and losses to the president, it is still not true that Trump lost “at least 200,000” manufacturing jobs prior to the pandemic.
From January 2017, the start of Trump's presidency, until February 2020, immediately before the pandemic hit, the economy added 414,000 manufacturing jobs.
Manufacturing employment, like overall employment, drastically dropped once a significant portion of the economy shut down in March and April 2020, shedding 1.3 million jobs in April 2020 alone. The economy then rapidly resumed adding manufacturing jobs, rising each month from May 2020 to December 2020, before a small loss in January 2021. However, these gains were not enough to offset the losses in March and April 2020. Thus, the overall total for Trump's four years in office amounted to a loss of 178,000 jobs.
When CNN contacted the Harris campaign for a reply on Harris' incorrect claim on March 17, 2023, a campaign aide referenced a similar, yet accurate statement Harris made in a Pennsylvania speech. In that speech, she stated, "Across our economy, almost 200,000 manufacturing jobs were lost during his presidency – starting before the pandemic struck."
This assertion is true. Although the steepest manufacturing job losses under Trump occurred during the pandemic, the job losses began before the pandemic. The economy experienced a net loss of 48,000 manufacturing jobs over the 13-month period from February 2019 to February 2020, prior to Trump's term, having gained under him beforehand.
However, Harris' campaign mistakenly turned this accurate claim into a false one on social media. In a post about the video of Harris' remark, the campaign's official @KamalaHQ account rephrased her as follows: "Vice President Harris: Almost 200,000 manufacturing jobs were lost under Trump before the pandemic."
This paraphrase distorted Harris' actual words - she said the job losses began before the pandemic, not that all the “almost 200,000” losses happened before the pandemic - and, once again, this statement is inaccurate.
Harris' claim about the economy Trump 'left us'
We will not be issuing a definitive fact-check judgment on Harris' more ambiguous claim that "Donald Trump left us with the worst economy since the Great Depression, when you consider, for example, the employment figures."
The Harris campaign aide revealed that Harris was referring to Trump's overall employment record; he was the first president to oversee a four-year net job loss since Herbert Hoover, who left office during the Depression-era 1933.
However, it is worth pointing out that the unemployment rate was not at its worst point since the Great Depression when the Biden-Harris administration took over from Trump. While the rate soared to 14.8% in April 2020, the highest since 1939, it had already decreased to 6.4% in January 2021, the month of Biden's inauguration. In fact, a higher unemployment rate has occurred as recently as 2014.
Despite the factual inaccuracy in her claim about manufacturing jobs loss under President Trump, Senator Kamala Harris continued to discuss the state of the economy in political contexts. For instance, during a campaign rally, she asserted, "Donald Trump left us with an economy in shambles, struggling to recover from his failed policies."
Regarding her remarks about the economy being in its worst state since the Great Depression, Harris clarified, "I was referring to the overall employment record during Trump's presidency, making him the first leader to oversee a four-year net job loss since Herbert Hoover."
While the unemployment rate at the time of the Biden-Harris administration's assumption of power had significantly improved from its peak during the pandemic, it was still higher than in recent years, highlighting the ongoing challenges in the economy that continued to be a topic in the realm of politics.
