Politics

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Gets Fact-Checked On Unemployment Claims

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Amber Athey Podcast Columnist
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New York Democratic congressional candidate Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is being aggressively fact-checked over her claim that unemployment is low because people have two jobs.

In an interview with PBS’ “Firing Line” last week, Ocasio-Cortez said, “Unemployment is low because everyone has two jobs. Unemployment is low because people are working 60, 70, 80 hours a week and can barely feed their family.” (RELATED: Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez: Unemployment Is Low Because People Have 2 Jobs)

PolitiFact and FactCheck.org both called Ocasio-Cortez “wrong” for asserting that the number of jobs people have or the number of hours worked have any effect on the unemployment rate.

PolitiFact rated the claim “pants on fire,” noting that “the BLS does not use either of those factors in determining the official unemployment rate.”

The site also addressed her claim that “everyone” is working two jobs or a significant amount of hours. They found those claims to be dubious as well. Fewer than one in 20 Americans hold more than one job and a very very tiny amount of Americans work 70 or 80 hours per week.

“It’s also worth noting that on average, Americans aren’t working more today than they have been in the recent past,” PolitiFact added.

FactCheck.org also rated Ocasio-Cortez’s claim false, writing, “Unemployment is not low because more people are working two jobs. Employed people, whether they hold one or more jobs, are only counted once in the unemployment rate calculation.”

Ocasio-Cortez has previously bragged about holding an economics degree from Boston University.

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