Vice President JD Vance made a false declare about manufacturing jobs in a speech on Monday. Then, he made a deceptive declare on the identical topic whereas chatting with reporters on Tuesday.
On Monday, Vance mentioned final quarter had the largest development in manufacturing employment since Trump’s first presidency. In reality, final quarter’s acquire of 18,000 manufacturing jobs was smaller than the beneficial properties in six of the Biden administration’s seven full quarters in 2021 and 2022.
On Tuesday, Vance claimed there had been “great rebounds under the Trump administration and under our leadership” in financial statistics together with “manufacturing jobs.” He didn’t point out that, even with this 18,000 acquire over the primary three months of 2026, the financial system has misplaced 77,000 manufacturing jobs for the reason that starting of the Trump-Vance administration – as a result of the financial system shed manufacturing jobs in each month of 2025 and once more, in line with preliminary knowledge, in April 2026.
Vance’s workplace declined to remark for this article. Here is a fuller reality test of his assertions.
In a Monday speech in Missouri, Vance requested a sequence of rhetorical questions supposed to show his level that that the Trump-Vance administration “decided to put American businesses and most importantly, American workers first for a change.” One of Vance’s questions was this: “How is it that we’ve seen the biggest growth in manufacturing employment last quarter that we have seen in this country since Donald J. Trump was president the first time?”
The reply is … we haven’t seen that.
In actuality, the rise in manufacturing jobs final quarter wasn’t even near as large because the beneficial properties in numerous quarters of 2021 and 2022 underneath then-President Joe Biden, whose financial file Vance and Trump have lengthy criticized.
Here are the numbers.
In the primary quarter of 2026, the US financial system added 18,000 manufacturing jobs: 2,000 in January, 1,000 in February and 15,000 in March, federal figures show. Vance may have accurately mentioned that this was the primary quarter with no decline in manufacturing jobs for the reason that final quarter of 2023 underneath Biden, when the quantity was flat.
But let’s take a look at the manufacturing job beneficial properties in 2022 (when all 4 quarters had been through the Biden administration) and 2021 (when the final three quarters had been underneath Biden and the primary quarter was partly underneath Trump).
Q1 2022: 137,000 jobs added.
Q2 2022: 93,000 jobs added.
Q3 2022: 82,000 jobs added.
This autumn 2022: 46,000 jobs added.
Q1 2021 (Trump was president for many of January, Biden for the remainder of the quarter): 76,000 jobs added.
Q2 2021: 18,000 jobs added.
Q3 2021: 146,000 jobs added.
This autumn 2021: 144,000 jobs added.
None of the eight quarters in these two years had larger job development than the 18,000 acquire of the primary quarter of 2026. So Vance’s declare that the latest quarter had the largest development in manufacturing employment since Trump’s first presidency is clearly unfaithful.
Trump and his allies have typically argued that job beneficial properties early within the Biden presidency had been artificially massive as a result of many positions had been merely revived after they had been briefly misplaced to the large pandemic-related layoffs of early 2020; Biden and his allies have typically argued that his insurance policies had been answerable for a sooner and stronger jobs restoration than the US would have had in any other case. It’s not for us to adjudicate that debate right here – although it’s value noting that the beneficial properties within the third quarter and fourth quarter of 2022 (82,000 jobs and 46,000 jobs respectively) got here after the financial system had already returned to its pre-pandemic complete within the second quarter of that yr.
Vance spoke to the press within the White House briefing room on Tuesday. A reporter requested what he would say to Americans voting in Tuesday’s elections who felt the president and vp hadn’t stored some key marketing campaign guarantees, together with pledges to chop fuel costs and inflation.
Part of Vance’s reply was this: “We ran on the promise of bringing investment back into the United States of America, that rather than factory closures we were going to have factories opening, and we’ve seen both construction jobs in manufacturing but also manufacturing jobs have great rebounds under the Trump administration and under our leadership.”
Vance is right that there was a rise throughout this administration within the variety of development jobs targeted on constructing manufacturing amenities. But his subsequent declare, that there was an incredible rebound in manufacturing jobs underneath this administration, is deceptive at greatest.
This administration has really presided over a net loss of manufacturing jobs. The financial system misplaced 77,000 manufacturing jobs from February 2025, the administration’s first full month in workplace, via April 2026, the final month for which federal knowledge is out there. There was a decline in manufacturing jobs each single month of 2025 (after a decline in 10 of the 12 months of 2024 underneath Biden).
It is true, once more, that the financial system added 18,000 manufacturing jobs within the first three months of 2026 – earlier than shedding 2,000 in April 2026, in line with preliminary figures. But that 18,000 acquire underneath Trump and Vance early this yr didn’t come near overcoming the larger losses underneath their administration final yr.
That’s to not say all of the losses are the administration’s fault, although its unstable tariff insurance policies might well have contributed to the decline; US manufacturing employment peaked within the late Seventies and had been heading downward once more since Biden-era 2023. And there have been positive signs in numerous manufacturing knowledge within the first 4 months of 2026 – together with that financial exercise within the manufacturing sector expanded in all four months, in line with one key metric.
Vance may pretty cite these numbers, because the White House does on its website. He may, just like the administration’s appearing labor secretary did earlier this month, mount an argument that “the jobs are coming” within the wake of current company investments in factories. He may even pretty describe the 18,000 first-quarter jobs acquire as a rebound.
But it’s misleading to credit score their management for this bounceback with out acknowledging that it’s merely a partial bounceback from losses that occurred underneath their management.