Hannity Distorts Economic Data To Conceal Employment Growth

Written by Leslie Rosenberg

Published

During an interview with former White House economic advisor Austan Goolsbee, Sean Hannity distorted economic data and claimed that overall employment is declining by 400,000 jobs per month. In fact, the Bureau of Labor Statistics says employment has been increasing for months, and the private sector has added 2.4 million jobs since March 2010.

Hannity: Employment Is Declining By 400,000 Jobs Per Month

Hannity: “We're Losing 400,000 Jobs Per Month.” From the August 26 edition of Fox News' Hannity:

AUSTAN GOOLSBEE, FORMER OBAMA ADVISOR: Over the 17 months, wait take the 17 months where we're actually growing fairly robustly -

HANNITY: Growing? We're losing 400,000 jobs a month!

GOOLSBEE: Before the events at the beginning of this year -

HANNITY: We're losing -

GOOLSBEE: We added 2.5 million, we added 2.5 million jobs. When the president takes office, we're losing almost 800,000 a month. When we slow that down and turn it around, we add 2.5 million. It has taken longer than we anticipated, there's no question about that, you're correct.

HANNITY: We didn't add, I can't let you get away, we've lost 2.5 million jobs.

GOOLSBEE: That's not true. [Fox News, Hannity, 8/26/11]

But Hannity Is Wrong: Employment Has Been Increasing For Almost A Year

BLS Data Show That The Economy Has Been Adding Jobs Since October 2010. According to Bureau of Labor Statistics data, employment has increased during each of the last 10 months. [Bureau of Labor Statistics, accessed 8/27/11]

Moreover, Goolsbee Is Right - The Private Sector Has Added Nearly 2.5 Million Jobs In The Past 17 Months. According to Bureau of Labor Statistics data, the economy has added 2.4 million private sector jobs since March 2007. [Bureau of Labor Statistics, accessed 8/27/11]