The economy was “dead in the water when we got here. Virtually no jobs created.”

Trying to deflect public dissatisfaction about high inflation, White House chief of staff Ron Klain touted other, stronger aspects of the economy during an interview in ABC’s “This Week.”

The economy, he said, was “dead in the water when we got here. Virtually no jobs created.”

The White House told PolitiFact that by the end of the Trump administration, job creation had stalled out, and President Joe Biden’s pandemic and economic recovery bill, the American Rescue Plan, accelerated economic expansion. Still, Klain’s framing was a significant exaggeration of reality.

The Biden administration has some justification for being pleased with its job-creation record. In the 15 months since Biden took office, month-over-month job gains have exceeded 424,000 in 14 of those months. (The only exception was in April 2021, when job gains totaled 263,000.) 

Those gains have brought the national employment level to just under 99% of what it was just before the pandemic hit.

But the gains in employment didn’t turn on a dime when President Donald Trump left office and Biden took over. The recovery began under Trump.

In December 2020, the final full month before Biden took office, the employment level fell by 115,000, which has been the only absolute loss of jobs since April 2020, when the nation was suddenly plunged into lockdowns.

But that month is unrepresentative of the final months of Trump’s presidency. The final three months under Trump prior to that December loss produced gains of 919,000, 647,000, and 333,000 jobs, respectively. Those gains are substantial, not “virtually no jobs created.”

Another key metric of economic health, gains in gross domestic product, also began their upswing before Biden took office.

Even setting aside the 33.8% increase in the third quarter of 2020, which was basically a reversal of the sudden -31.2% shrinkage the previous quarter, the fourth quarter of 2020, which came during Trump’s tenure, produced 4.5% growth.

Our ruling

Klain said the economy was “dead in the water when we got here. Virtually no jobs created.”

The job creation record under Biden has been impressive, exceeding 424,000 in 14 out of the 15 months he’s been in office. However, the economy didn’t turn suddenly when he took office; it was already improving during the final months of Trump’s tenure. 

While Trump’s last full month in office, December 2020, produced a loss in employment by 115,000, that was the exception. The final three months under Trump prior to that December loss produced job gains of 919,000, 647,000, and 333,000, respectively. Those gains are substantial, not “virtually no jobs created.”

We rate the statement Mostly False.