Trump right on unemployment rates, wrong on Dems

— President Donald Trump on Jan. 8 in a tweet

President Donald Trump is right on the numbers but leaves out economic gains for those groups that came under a Democratic administration.

In December 2017, African-American unemployment fell to 6.8 percent. That’s a record low since the statistic was first calculated in 1972. The previous record low was 7 percent in April 2000 and September 2017.

Hispanic unemployment also dropped by a full percentage point, from 5.9 percent in December 2016 to 4.9 percent in December 2017. As the president said, this is close to the alltime low, which was 4.8 percent in October and November 2017.

The tweet would have been accurate if Trump had stopped after the numbers. But his dig on the Democrats missed the fact that the unemployment rate for both groups declined dramatically on President Barack Obama’s watch.

“African American unemployment is the lowest ever recorded in our country. The Hispanic unemployment rate dropped a full point in the last year and is close to the lowest in recorded history. Dems did nothing for you but get your vote!”

Our ruling

Trump is right about the low unemployment rates for both blacks and Hispanics today. But his slam that the Democrats “did nothing” in this regard is an exaggeration. We rate his statement Mostly True.