Claim: John Fetterman, the Democratic nominee for a Senate seat in Pennsylvania, claimed in a debate Tuesday night that the unemployment rate was the lowest in 50 years.
“I believe that unemployment is already down to the lowest level in the last 50 years,” Fetterman said.
Verdict: False.
Unemployment is very low but the last time it was this low was not 50 years ago. The most recent jobs report had unemployment at 3.5 percent in September, down from 3.6 percent in August. Unemployment was 3.6 percent in March, April, May, and June of this year before falling to 3.5 percent in July.
Unemployment fell to 3.5 percent in September of 2019, which marked a 50-year low. It briefly ticked up and then fell to 3.5 percent in January and February of 2020.
In absolute terms, the claim is also false. The total level of unemployment in September was 5.753 million. In February 2020, it was 5.717 million.
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