As the extremely competitive election cycle for Michigan kicks off, Democratic Governor Gretchen Whitmer has continued her tendency to brag about how her state welcomed a total of 25,000 new auto jobs since she was established in office, but the truth is quite different in the story it sells concerning auto jobs while under Whitmer’s leadership.
As part of a statement put out by the office of the governor just last week, Whitmer spoke out about the monthly job report from her state and claimed that since she managed to take the office as of January of 2019, “Michigan has announced 25,000 good-paying auto jobs, including 10,000 in 2022 alone.”
This is not the first instance of the governor trying to brag about 25,000 auto jobs coming into the state’s economy. Back near the start of June, she posted to social media, “I’m thrilled about @Ford’s $2 billion investment to create 3,200 good-paying auto jobs — add this to the nearly 25,000 auto jobs we’ve created! I will keep working with anyone to lead Michigan into a future of mobility and electrification.”
In less than a week, Whitmer once again tried to brag about massive job growth in the auto sector. “Since I took office, Michigan has added more than 25,000 auto jobs. Thanks to @Ford’s recent investment, we’re adding another 3,000,” she expressed.
There is just one quite large problem with this: the 25,000 new jobs that Whitmer has repeatedly bragged about do not seem to actually exist.
These “25,000 new auto jobs” claims from Whitmer have sparked a fact check from Clara Hendrickson, a reporter with the Detroit Free Press, who has labeled Whitmer’s numerous tweets and statements as “mostly false.” Hendrickson highlighted that the available employment data does not seem to back up these claims from Whitmer whatsoever and that multiple thousand of the 25,000 auto jobs that Whitmer claimed to have made “do not currently exist.”
The truth of the subject seems to be that the market is a net total of 1,700 auto jobs down since Whitmer took the office in 2019, as reported by data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). Data from the BLS also highlight that the state dropped 5,000 more auto jobs in July with 3,700 coming from vehicle manufacturing and 1,300 coming from motor vehicle parts manufacturing.
As Whitmer attempts to try and get ready for a re-election campaign for the upcoming midterms in November, her website seems to still brag about these false numbers as being her main accomplishment while in office. The website claims that Whitmer has “Created nearly 25,000 auto jobs as part of the biggest manufacturing boom in years, ensuring the future of auto manufacturing will be made in Michigan, by Michigan workers.”
The Whitmer campaign and governor’s office seem to also be outright ignoring any and all requests for answers as to why they are continuing to laud a claim that has been proven false.