Biden in Syracuse: 'The First President Since Herbert Hoover ... to Lose Jobs' (October 27, 2022)

On the afternoon of October 27, 2022, President Biden spoke at Onondaga Community College near Syracuse, New York, to celebrate Micron Technology’s commitment, as he described it, “to invest $100 billion over the next 20 years” in American semiconductor factories [1]. Midway through, he turned to the economy he inherited. “My predecessor was the first President since Hebert [Herbert] Hoover — not a joke — to lose jobs in the entirety of his administration,” he said. This short clip shows that passage. Quotes are from the official transcript published by the American Presidency Project [1], and each figure is checked below against the government’s data.

Key Moments

”The first President since Herbert Hoover”

“Let’s just take a look at the facts. When I took office, the economy was in ruins. My predecessor was the first President since Hebert [Herbert] Hoover — not a joke — to lose jobs in the entirety of his administration. The first. Unemployment, when I was sworn in, was at 6.4 percent,” Biden said. He added that “more than 9 million people were still out of work from the pandemic when I took office.” Then he listed his own record: “Ten million jobs created since we took office, a record for any administration in American history. Unemployment is at 3.5 percent, the lowest it’s been in 50 years” [1].

”Down from over $5 when I took office”

On gasoline, he said: “We’re down $1.25 since the peak this summer, and they’ve been falling for the last 3 weeks.” Then: “Today, the most common price of gas in America is $3.39, down from over $5 when I took office” [1].

”I’m never going to apologize”

“I took action to ease the burden of student debt for millions of working and middle class families,” Biden said. “My friends on the right, Republicans — they criticized the move. But I’m never going to apologize for helping working and middle class families as they recover from the pandemic, especially not to those same folks who voted for a $2 trillion tax cut.” He also said: “even though my Republican friends in Congress seem to be hoping for a recession — many of them — present company excluded — today the GDP results came out, and the economy, in fact, is growing. In fact, the economy grew at 2.6-percent rate last quarter” [1].

Fact Check

“The first President since Herbert Hoover … to lose jobs.” Accurate, with an important cause. FactCheck.org found that Donald Trump “ended his presidency with an economy that had 2.7 million fewer jobs than when he started — becoming the first president in modern times to experience a net loss of jobs over his time in office, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, which has monthly employment figures dating to 1939.” The loss came from the pandemic: “In two months, March and April 2020, the U.S. economy lost a staggering 21.9 million jobs” [2].
“Unemployment, when I was sworn in, was at 6.4 percent.” Accurate [2][3].
“Ten million jobs created since we took office.” Accurate as of September 2022: FactCheck.org counted 10,001,000 jobs added between Biden’s inauguration and September, which put employment 514,000 above its pre-pandemic peak [3]. Most of those jobs were a recovery of jobs lost in 2020.
“The lowest it’s been in 50 years.” Accurate but incomplete: the 3.5 percent rate “is exactly where it was in the months just before the pandemic,” FactCheck.org noted [3].
Manufacturing. Elsewhere in the speech, Biden said the country “lost over 180,000 manufacturing jobs under the last guy” and that “We’ve created 700,000 manufacturing jobs on my watch” [1]. FactCheck.org’s figures were 178,000 lost under Trump [2] and 696,000 added under Biden as of September 2022 [3].
“Down from over $5 when I took office.” Wrong. The week before Biden took office, the national average price of regular gasoline was $2.38 a gallon; it rose during his term to “the highest ever recorded — just over $5 per gallon in the week ending June 13, 2022” [4][5]. His other figure, “down $1.25 since the peak this summer,” was accurate: the average fell from $5.006 in mid-June to $3.769 in the week of October 24 [5].
“The economy grew at 2.6-percent rate last quarter.” Accurate. The Bureau of Economic Analysis released that figure the same morning [6].

Background: Why He Was in Syracuse

The event celebrated the first big investment announced after the CHIPS and Science Act, which Biden credited to Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, “author of the CHIPS and Science Act and one of the major reasons we’re standing here.” “With Micron’s $100 billion investment alone, we’re going to increase America’s share of global memory chips and production by 500 percent,” Biden said [1]. The economic passage in the clip was a campaign-season argument, delivered 12 days before the midterm elections, that his record compared favorably with his predecessor’s.

What Happened Next

Manufacturing: Biden had promised a million new manufacturing jobs. By the end of his term, FactCheck.org found, “The U.S. added 531,000 manufacturing jobs during Biden’s time,” and he “fell short” [4].
Gas prices: “The week he left office the price was down to $3.11,” still well above the $2.38 of the week before he took office [4][5].
Student debt: On June 30, 2023, the Supreme Court struck down the student debt relief plan he defended in Syracuse. “I believe the Court’s decision to strike down my student debt relief program was a mistake, was wrong,” Biden said that day [7].