More Americans Unemployed

Melissa Goldin and Calvin Woodward of the Associated Press (AP) late last month challenged President Trump’s claim that “more Americans are working today than at any time in the history of our country,” noting that total job numbers tend to rise as the population grows.

. During Biden’s presidency, unemployment fell to a 50-year low of 3.4%.

“The relevant figure is the proportion of Americans with jobs,” they wrote. That measure has declined over the past 25 years, partly because of an aging population and rising retirements.

The employment-to-population ratio peaked at 64.7% in April 2000 and stood at 59.8% in January.

The unemployment rate was 4.3% — low by historical standards — but lower when Biden left office in January 2025, at 4%. During Biden’s presidency, unemployment fell to a 50-year low of 3.4%.

The AP reporters also disputed Trump’s claim that he had ended eight wars in the first 10 months of his second term.

“This statistic, which Trump frequently cites, is highly exaggerated,” Goldin and Woodward wrote.

While Trump has helped mediate diplomatic relations among some nations, his role has not been as decisive as he suggests.

In at least two cases for which he claimed credit — Serbia and Kosovo, and Egypt and Ethiopia over the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam — there were no active wars underway.

He played no role in ending clashes between India and Pakistan and had only a limited role in the truce between Thailand and Cambodia.