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TRUMP, on the economy before the pandemic: “We had the best numbers for African Americans on employment and unemployment in history ... best everything.” — Fox News interview Wednesday
THE FACTS: True on unemployment. Not true by a long shot on “everything” in the economy.
Black unemployment reached a record low during the Trump administration, 5.4% in August, as the longest economic expansion in history pressed ahead.
Most of the progress came when Barack Obama was president: Black unemployment dropped from a recession high of 16.8% in March 2010 to 7.8% in January 2017. Improvement continued under Trump until the pandemic. Black unemployment reached 16.8% in May, compared with 13.3% for the overall population.
Not all economic measures improved for African Americans under Trump before the pandemic. A black household earned median income of $41,361 in 2018, the latest data available. That’s below a 2000 peak of $43,380, according to the Census Bureau.
More broadly, there were multiple signs before the pandemic that the racial wealth gap had been worsening.
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