President Joe Biden recently spoke to the United Auto Workers union, praising the union's accomplishments after last year's strike against the Detroit Three automakers. Biden also highlighted job growth in the auto industry, comparing it to that under his predecessor, Donald Trump.
“Tens of thousands of auto jobs have been lost across America during President Trump's term,” Biden said at the UAW conference in Washington on January 24. Biden said he has “created more than 250,000 auto jobs across America” during his presidency.
Biden mentioned “factories” twice at the beginning of his comments about job growth, but he did not mention dealers. His audience, the UAW, represents workers in the manufacturing industry, not workers in the much larger dealership sector.
The statistics show that Biden's numbers are accurate for both Trump and Biden, but only if you include jobs in auto and parts dealerships as well as auto and parts manufacturers.
When asked for comment, the White House pointed to a webpage from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the federal government's official employment statistics agency, which says the definition of “auto industry” includes both categories. That was it.
What the statistics show
Looking only at auto and parts manufacturing jobs, those jobs have declined under the Trump administration, but not by “tens of thousands.” According to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, 8,800 of those jobs were lost during Trump's presidency.
That doesn't take into account the coronavirus pandemic, which has overshadowed every jobs report for the past 10 months of Trump's presidency. Before the pandemic began in March 2020, auto and parts manufacturing jobs had increased by 27,900 under the Trump administration.
During Biden's presidential term, employment in auto and parts manufacturing increased by 127,800 by December 2023, about half of the 250,000 jobs Biden claimed in his UAW speech.
But adding in a related employment category, auto and parts dealers, could reach Biden's numbers.
During President Trump's term, manufacturing and dealership employment fell by a combined 86,600 jobs, which equates to “tens of thousands” of jobs. Before the pandemic, the number of jobs had increased by 67,100 under the Trump administration.
So far, Biden's total job gains in those two categories are 259,200, close to the numbers Biden told the UAW.
Gary Bartress, an economist at the Brookings Institution, a Washington, D.C.-based think tank, said Biden has a positive story to tell, regardless of how the auto industry is defined.
“According to almost every notable statistic, the U.S. economy is doing well and has been doing well since the economic recovery began,” Bartress said. “That applies to the auto industry whether or not we include the employment of ‘automotive and parts dealers’ in the auto industry.”
our verdict
Biden said that while “tens of thousands of auto-related jobs were lost across the country during President Trump's term,” during President Biden's term, “we have created more than 250,000 auto-related jobs nationwide.” Stated.
/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/tbt/UD4IDQTGHFFUZM43GMJ7RO2ZFE.JPG "Check out the top stories in Tampa Bay")
Check out the top stories in Tampa Bay
Subscribe to the free DayStarter Newsletter
We'll send you the latest news and information you need to know every morning.
Subscriber only
Everyone is registered!
Want more free weekly newsletters sent to your inbox? let's start.
consider all options
Biden is correct if you count both auto manufacturing and auto dealership jobs.
However, if only auto manufacturing jobs are counted, the numbers fall short of Biden's.
Biden's assessment of President Trump's performance does not take into account the unprecedented economic downturn caused by the coronavirus pandemic.
Although this statement is partially accurate, it omits important details. We rate it as a “half-truth”.
