The White House apologized Tuesday for wrongly stating President Donald Trump had created three times as many jobs for African Americans since being elected as President Barack Obama did in his entire administration.
Press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders claimed at Tuesday's press briefing that Obama only created 195,000 jobs for African Americans in eight years, but the actual number was almost three million. During the Trump administration, 700,000 jobs for African Americans have been created. The remark came during questions over whether Trump has ever used a racial slur.
"When President Obama left after eight years in office—eight years in office–he had only created 195,000 jobs for African Americans," Sanders said on Tuesday. "President Trump in his first year and a half has already tripled what President Obama did in eight years."
She issued a correction on Twitter, saying the "time frame" was incorrect. The White House Council of Economic Advisers published also responded by publishing new data comparing black job creation following Obama’s elections in 2008 and 2012 with black job creation following Trump’s election in 2016.
The Washington Post reports:
New data produced by the council compared black employment losses and gains in the 20 months following Obama’s election (-636,000 jobs) and the 20 months following his reelection (831,000 jobs) to the 20 months following Trump’s election (848,000).
The selection of dates is somewhat unusual because it takes into account job gains or losses before Trump and Obama took office. In any event, economists generally regard a president’s ability to shape employment trends as limited.
"Correction from today’s briefing: Jobs numbers for Pres Trump and Pres Obama were correct, but the time frame for Pres Obama wasn’t. I’m sorry for the mistake, but no apologies for the 700,000 jobs for African Americans created under President Trump," Sanders tweeted.
Correction from today’s briefing: Jobs numbers for Pres Trump and Pres Obama were correct, but the time frame for Pres Obama wasn’t. I’m sorry for the mistake, but no apologies for the 700,000 jobs for African Americans created under President Trump https://t.co/EXGvbliwlS
— Kayleigh McEnany 45 Archived (@PressSec45) August 15, 2018
Per @PressSec briefing today: pic.twitter.com/uQzsAkOH2i
— CEA45 Archived (@WhiteHouseCEA45) August 14, 2018
Apologies for @WhiteHouseCEA's earlier miscommunication to @PressSec.
— CEA45 Archived (@WhiteHouseCEA45) August 14, 2018