In a Mar. 2024 Republican pioneer and former president Donald Trump claimed nearly one million employment held by native-born Americans disappeared “in February alone,” according to a 9 campaign rally held in Rome, Georgia.
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Verdict: False
According to numerous specialists and data, Trump’s reference to that amount in his discourse was inaccurate. No one million of the 500, 000 native-born Americans lost their jobs between January and February 2024, according to experts, who cautioned against making a more general conclusion based on a month’s worth of data.
Point Test:
During a Mar. Trump claimed that nearly one million jobs held by native-born Americans disappeared “in February only.”
” In February only, almost 1 million jobs held by local- born Americans disappeared. Think of that. You lost a million jobs”, Trump claimed.
This claim is false, according to specialists and information.  , Federal Reserve Economic Data ( FRED ) available via the St. Louis Federal Reserve Bank website indicates the employment level for native- born workers was 129, 313, 000 in February 2024 compared to 129, 807, 000 in January 2024, which is a loss of 497, 000, not one million.
Also, the job level for international- born workers was 31, 002, 000 in February 2024 compared to 29, 842, 000 in January 2024, according to another set of FRED data accessible via the St. Louis Federal Reserve’s website.  , Both sets of data, actually sourced from the Bureau of Labor Statistics ( BLS), are up- to- time as of Mar. 8 and are not regionally adjusted.
A second set of FRED information accessible via the St. Louis Fed’s site places the entire career stage at 160, 968, 000 for February 2024 compared to 161, 152, 000 in January 2024. The data is derived from the Current Population Survey ( Household Survey ) and focuses on the civilian non- institutional population, or “persons 16 years of age and older residing in the 50 states and the District of Columbia, who are not inmates of institutions ( e. g., penal and mental facilities, homes for the aged ), and who are not on active duty in the Armed Forces”.
Although this information was initially obtained from the BLS and is accurate as of March, 8, it is intermittently adjusted.
A spokesperson for the BLS directed Check Your Fact to BLS data examining employment status among both native- and foreign- born workers places the employment rate for foreign- born workers at 63.5 % ( or 31, 002, 000 persons ) as of February 2024, the same rate ( representing 29, 518, 000 persons ) noted in February 2023. Similarly, the data places the employment rate for native- born workers at 59.1 % ( or 129, 313, 000 persons ) as of February 2024 compared to 59.3 % ( or 130, 194, 000 ) in February 2023, which would be a loss of around 880, 000 jobs.  , ( RELATED: Instagram Video Makes Claim About Trump, Patton, MSNBC )
Alternatively, the same data from the BLS shows an unemployment rate of 4.7 % ( or 1, 519, 000 persons ) for foreign- born workers 16 years old and over in February 2024 compared to an unemployment rate of 4.2 % ( or 1, 309, 000 persons ) for the same group in February 2023. According to the same BLS data, the unemployment rate for native- born workers was 4.0 % ( or 5, 451, 000 persons ) in February 2024 compared to 3.8 % ( or 5, 157, 000 persons ) in February 2023.
Furthermore, the number of foreign- born workers who are not in the labor force as of February 2024 is 16, 289, 000 ( compared to 15, 643, 000 in February 2023 ) and the number of native- born workers who are not in the labor force as of February 2024 is 84, 137, 000 ( compared to 84, 291, 000 in February 2023 ). None of this information is intermittently adjusted.
According to experts, Trump was wrong, according to Assess Your Fact.
The amount Trump referenced during his Mar. 9 march is “incorrect”.
” The cited range is wrong. According to BLS information, 129.8 million people who were native Americans worked in the United States in January 2024. This variety fell to 129.3 million in Feb 2024. That’s a reduction of half a million work for indigenous born Americans—not’ nearly one million jobs ‘ as President Trump claims”, Kedia told Test Your Point via internet.
While any job loss for any person, whether they are local or unusual born, is unsettling and unintentional, it is important to exercise caution when interpreting recent monthly labor statistics to determine labor market activity. Just longer-term employment data should be used for such analyses because these numbers are subject to numerous revisions. Moreover, the point of President Trump’s quotation was to identify the effects of immigration on home employment. The complex interaction between local workers and immigrants must be taken into account in such a analysis. Major studies of emigration and its effects on local work, such as those conducted by my Cato colleagues, have found no evidence of immigrants’ taking’ home jobs”, he explained.
The statement claims that there is a highly exaggerated number, and the smaller number is derived from a non-seasonally adjusted data series. Jobs typically end in February as temporary seasonal work. The big picture is that both American-born workers and foreign-born workers are currently experiencing a lot of employment opportunity, Watson said.
Dr. Madeline Zavodny, an economics professor and immigration and labor markets expert at the University of North Florida, said she is” not aware” of any evidence to support Trump’s claim.
There is no proof that I am aware of to back up the claim that nearly 1 million jobs held by native-born Americans disappeared in February alone.
” In February 2024, the U. S. added 275, 000 non- farm jobs. The number of employed US natives, age 16 plus, in not seasonally adjusted data was 129.313 million in February 2024. In January 2024, the number of employed US natives, age 16 plus, in not seasonally adjusted data was 129.807 million”.
” A naïve calculation might therefore be that there were 494, 000 fewer native- born employed in February than in January, or about half of the number claimed. Because we know there are regular seasonal patterns in the data, economists are hesitant to compare data that are not seasonally adjusted. The Bureau of Labor Statistics, which is independent of partisan political influence, has never put out seasonally adjusted monthly data on employment by nativity, as far as I know, so we cannot assess the validity of the claim”, Zavodny explained.
“Economists would also be wary of the naive comparison because the population that is native-born is aging.” The same data source shows , that the age 16 and older native- born population fell from 219.996 million in January 2024 to 218.901 million in February 2024, again on a not seasonally adjusted basis. Therefore, any decline in native-born employment may reflect both retirements and job losses as well as retirements and deaths.
” Indeed, the native- born labor force fell from 135.184 in January 2024 to 134.764 in February 2024, again on a not seasonally adjusted basis. So the labor force that was native-born decreased by 420, 000, which suggests that the majority of the decline in employment may have been job losses or retirements.
” Consistent with that, the number of unemployed native- born rose from 5.376 in January 2024 to 5.451 in February 2024, again on a not seasonally adjusted basis. So on a not-seasonally adjusted basis, the number of native-born unemployed increased by 75, 000. In short, the data could be interpreted to indicate that 75, 000 native- born lost their jobs in February, but economists would be reluctant to put much weight on data that are not seasonally adjusted”, she added.
Laurence Benenson, Vice President of Policy and Advocacy at America is Better, the ( c ) 4 affiliate of the National Immigration Forum, said Trump’s claim is “false”.
” Former President Trump’s statement that’ in February alone, nearly 1 million jobs held by native- born Americans disappeared’ is false. We would hear a lot about it if a million Americans lost their jobs suddenly in one month. It would have significant effects on both the economy as a whole and the unemployment rate. This did not happen”, Benenson said.
” The unemployment rate remains below 4 %, as it has for two years running, reflecting a strong job market. Many key sectors continue to experience , labor shortages — effectively the opposite of what Trump said”, Benenson added.
” Trump appears to be referring to Bureau of Labor Statistics data showing declines in the number of native- born Americans in the workforce between February 2023 and February 2024 ( 130.2 million to 129.3 million, a decline of less than 0.7 % ) and between January 2024 and February 2024 ( 129.8 million to 129.3 million, a decline of less than 0.4 % ). These statistics do not, however, indicate that immigrants who were born in the United States lost jobs as a result. The monthly job statistics take into account various demographic and seasonal adjustments. There’s also noise in the numbers — one should n’t overinterpret small changes in one month of data”.
Trump’s assertion was also flagged as false by PolitiFact in a March. 12 article, stating that the U. S. had lost 184, 000 jobs as of February 2024. The outlet cited the St. Louis Federal Reserve’s website’s FRED employment data to back up its claim. Watson directed the PolitiFact article to check the facts.
A Trump spokesperson has also been contacted by Check Your Fact for comment, and we will update this article as needed if one is received.
