FACT CHECK: Kamala Harris Falsely Claims Donald Trump Lost 200,000 Manufacturing Jobs Before Pandemic Started
Vice President Kamala Harris and her campaign claimed multiple times that former President Donald Trump lost 200,000 manufacturing jobs before the COVID-19 pandemic started.
Vice President Harris: Almost 200,000 manufacturing jobs were lost under Trump before the pandemic. That makes Donald Trump one of the biggest losers ever on manufacturing pic.twitter.com/ZsjonenEuX
— Kamala HQ (@KamalaHQ) September 25, 2024
Verdict: False
Trump’s administration gained over 400,000 manufacturing jobs between January 2017 and February 2020, which was when the pandemic started. It lost around 178,000 manufacturing jobs overall.
Fact Check:
Harris sat down with MSNBC host Stephanie Ruhle for an interview. During the interview, she claimed that Trump lost 200,000 manufacturing jobs “before the pandemic.” Her campaign HQ account also repeated the claim, though in a different context than the MSNBC interview.
“Even before the pandemic, he lost manufacturing jobs, by most people’s estimates, at least 200,000. He lost manufacturing plants. Ask the autoworkers how he lost auto plants,” Harris said during the interview.
This claim is false. The Trump administration gained 414,000 manufacturing jobs between January 2017 and February 2020, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). The number of manufacturing jobs, though, decreased dramatically in March and April 2020. COVID-19 was officially declared a pandemic in March 2020, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Manufacturing jobs increased between May and December 2020, per the BLS. Ultimately, the Trump administration lost 178,000 manufacturing jobs between January 2017 and January 2021. The Trump administration also lost 48,000 manufacturing jobs between February 2019 through February 2020.
Trump campaign spokesperson Karoline Leavitt told Check Your Fact that “Kamala Harris is forced to lie because the truth is that she’s a failure.” (RELATED: Did JD Vance Follow Trump Would-Be Assassin On Social Media?)
Check Your Fact reached out to the Harris campaign for comment.
