As the nation gears up for the high-stakes 2024 election, where every statistic and soundbite holds immense sway, it’s imperative to discern truth from embellishment. As candidates vie for voter support, their claims regarding economic progress resonate deeply with a populace grappling with job uncertainty, inflation concerns, and the broader specter of financial stability.

Inflation and the economy continue to rank as top issues among likely voters, according to a Data For Progress poll on March 6. Voters also feel like the economy was better under former President Donald Trump compared to Biden, according to a poll by CBS earlier this month.

Similar to the dynamics observed during the pivotal 2020 election, President Joe Biden and the Democratic party are once again mobilizing to secure the support of Black voters in the upcoming 2024 presidential election. This can lead to an increase of political talking points, whether true or misleading, being shared to the public.

As he campaigns around the country during his 2024 presidential election run, Biden has stated and pushed many claims that report historic economic progress for voters of color under his leadership.

In recent weeks, Biden has attested that he has cut Black child poverty in half, created historic job growth for minorities, and gotten the Black unemployment rate to a record low.

A political ad promoting Biden’s presidential campaign said, “The lowest black unemployment rate in history. Black child poverty cut in half. Record numbers of new Black entrepreneurs.”

Nearly 28% of all Americans the economy is doing excellent or good under Biden, this is a 9-point increase from last year, according to the Pew Research Center. About 48% of Black adults support Biden’s job with the economy, about half of the Black population.

Below, Reckon examines recent claims about economic progress under the Biden administration and provides context to the claims.

Truth 1: There are “record numbers of new Black entrepreneurs” under Biden’s leadership

On Feb. 13, a political ad by the Biden for President committee was published to target Black Americans during Black History Month. The ad highlighted the Biden administration delivered “real results” for Black Americans and welcomed the first Black vice president, the first Black secretary of defense, and the first Black woman on the Supreme Court.

“…President Biden’s commitment to Black America. Delivering real results for us. The lowest black unemployment rate in history. Black child poverty cut in half. Record numbers of new Black entrepreneurs,” the ad narrator said.

As stated in the ad, the record rate for unemployment among Black Americans reached an all-time low during the Biden administration since the records were recorded in 1972.

In April 2023, Black unemployment fell to a record low of 4.7%, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. As of March 18, the unemployment rate for Black Americans sits at 5.6%, according to the BLS.

Experts attribute the expansion of the child tax credit, a tax break for families with qualifying children pushed by the Biden administration in 2021, as the reason child poverty for Black youth was cut.

In 2021, the Black child poverty rate was 17.1%. That child poverty rate saw a 51.3% drop the following year with the new poverty rate being 8.3%.

The ad also stated that America reached “record numbers of new Black entrepreneurs.” This claim is also supported by data from the U.S. Census Bureau.

From 2020 to 2021, America saw the biggest increase in Black entrepreneurs with over 20,000 new Black businesses being created, bringing the new total to 161,031 businesses, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. This compares to the 140,918 Black businesses that existed in 2020.

Viewers or voters — who are arguably more important and the target audience of such ads — need to do their research on claims from political leaders. Taking time to verify the facts not only strengthens a person’s research skills, but it also gives them the tools needed to process and verify information in the future.

The South Carolina ETV Commission said it’s important for readers to start by asking five important questions to verify the information: “Who created this message? What techniques are used to attract my attention? How might different people understand this message differently from me? What lifestyles, values, and points of view are represented in, or omitted from this message? Why was this message sent?”

Truth 2: There is job growth under Biden’s leadership

During the State of the Union address held on March 7, President Joe Biden boasted about the growth in jobs created as a whole and for minorities under his leadership.

“Fifteen million new jobs in just three years,” Biden said. “A record 16 million Americans are starting small businesses, and each one is a literal act of hope, with historic job growth and small-business growth for Black and Hispanics and Asian Americans. Eight hundred thousand new manufacturing jobs in America and counting.”

Reckon did some research and the numbers Biden quoted in this speech all checked out.

As previously stated, small Black businesses grew by 20,000 jobs in 2021. Hispanic and Asian American-owned businesses followed that same growth trend, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

As of Jan 2021, over 790,000 new manufacturing jobs have been created under the Biden Administration according to BLS data.

From 2020-2023, there were 14.8 million new jobs created during the first three years the Biden administration was in office, according to the BLS.

The lie: Biden’s job growth compared to previous presidents

Although the overall economic job growth under the Biden administration is considered impressive to some, does it equal “historic job growth” as Biden claimed?

Some fact-checkers, who have fact-checked democratic claim of “record” and “historic” job growth, state that other presidents have higher job growth percentage increases compared to Biden.

Under Biden, job growth was at a rate of 10.3% during Biden’s first three years in office. Compared to former President Jimmy Carter and former President Lyndon Johnson, Biden doesn’t have the highest growth percentage rate, according to FactCheck.org.

For Cater the job growth rate for his first three years in office was calculated to 12.5% and Johnson’s job growth rate totaled 12.1%.

According to a sample from PolitiFact, politicians only tell the truth about 47% of the time. That jarring number highlights why it is important for people to verify information from political leaders with multiple sources.

Bill Adair, founder of PolitiFact and journalism professor at Duke University, said that the resources that are available to people today can help people understand political information.

“What’s different today is that there is so much information available to help people make sense of the political discourse and discern the difference between an exaggeration and a pants-on-fire lie,” Adair said.