President Joe Biden tried to tout his administration’s economic record in a recent Twitter post, saying “In my first year as president, we saw the largest one-year growth in women’s participation in the labor force in nearly 30 years.”
That tweet came after the release of surprisingly good jobs data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, which reported that:
“Total nonfarm payroll employment rose by 517,000 in January, and the unemployment rate changed little at 3.4 percent, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Job growth was widespread, led by gains in leisure and hospitality, professional and business services, and health care. Employment also increased in government, partially reflecting the return of workers from a strike.”
Well, Biden’s attempt to toot his own horn went poorly for him. Attached to his tweet was a “community note” fact check that said “By Jan 2021, the US had only recovered 57% of overall jobs lost during COVID, leading to size-able “growth” in Biden’s first year.“
Twitter fact-checks Biden’s misleading claim that there was the largest one-year growth in women’s labor force participation in 30 years in his first year.
In reality, there are fewer woman working now than before COVID. pic.twitter.com/iE2jtNAmZV
— Kassy Dillon (@KassyDillon) February 3, 2023
The note went on to say that “The total number of women working now remains slightly less than pre-COVID” and that “The labor force participation rate for women remains much lower.“
Included in the note were three source which contained varying data on the employment statistics to which Biden was referring. One person tweeted out a brief summary of the data in each source, saying:
Biden tweets this & I decided to read the "context" the first source actually shows that we are higher now than before covid. The 2nd source says that we have slightly less women working, the actual number is 50. The 3rd source shows that it's less than half a % from pre-covid. pic.twitter.com/m1b7XU6s8h
— B-158 Jr.🤟🏼 (@ThiccBoBaeggins) February 3, 2023
In addition to the fact check on the tweet, many people mocked Biden for the tweet and claim in it.
Mindy Robinson, a journalist for the DC patriot, for example, said “Are you counting real women? Because we’ve seen pictures of your “team.””
Tim Young said “Love that this was community fact checked.”
A lawyer named Julie Hammil joined in, saying, “I believe that was the same year that I lost 3/4 of my income due to pandemic policies and the need to advocate for people harmed by them, and to care for my kids whose schools closed. I am still making 1/4 of what I used to earn and just now starting to rebuild. No thanks to you.”
Nick Adams compared Biden’s economic performance to that of President Donald Trump, saying “Donald Trump gave us the greatest economy of our lifetimes and world peace, you gave us record breaking inflation and war in Europe. RESIGN.”
Another commenter, Alex Stovall, said “Shutting the nation down & forcing single mothers to work part time is not growth. It’s disgusting and manipulative.”
So, both Community Notes and normal Twitter commenters weren’t having it: Biden can attempt to pat himself on the back about how great the economy is all he wants, but Americans paying attention to the state of things don’t believe him.
By: Will Tanner. Follow me on Twitter @Will_Tanner_1