Unearned Credit on Unemployment Rates

President Trump has continued to make the claim that he has done more for African Americans than any other president. He even has dropped the qualifier than maybe President Lincoln did more,as he did in the Rose Garden shortly after George Floyd's funeral. A major component of that claim is the contention that he has lowered the African American unemployment rate to the lowest in U.S.history. He has made similar claims for the Hispanic and women's unemployment rate, and the women's workplace participation rate. 

After the unemployment figures were released for December 2017, Trump tweeted: "Black American unemployment has reached an all-time low in the history of our country. It's the best  -- best we've ever had." "Unemployment rates among African American, Hispanic Americans, and Asian Americans have all reached all-time lows." "Somebody please inform Jay-Z that because of my policies, Black unemployment has just been reported to be at the LOWEST RATE EVER RECORDED!"

Following the financial meltdown culminating in October 2008, the African American unemployment rate rose to 16% in December 2010. It had fallen to 7.8% in December 2016. At the end of 2017, it had dropped to 6.8%. Therefore, out of a total drop of 9.2% over 7 years, President Trump contributed 1% to it.

Much the same happened with the Hispanic unemployment rate. The rate peaked at 13.7% in August 2009, and had been reduced to 5.9% in December 2016. It was then reduced to 4.9% in December 2017 when Trump made his claim that it was the lowest Hispanic unemployment rate in U.S. history. Thus, out of a total drop of 8.8%, only 1% of it occurred in Trump's first year in office. 

The women's unemployment rate fell from 8.7% in October 2010 to  4.7% in January 2017. President Trump lowered the rate to 3.7% in July 2019.  It is the case that in a little over 6 years under the  Obama presidency, the rate was reduced by 4%, and Trump reduced it by an additional 1% in his first 2 and a half years in office.

The women's workplace participation rate is measured from January through November every year. Trump claimed that the 863,000 women who comprised the 2017 workplace participation rate was the highest in U.S. history. The 863,000 figure was an average 34% lower than the number of women who joined the workforce in 2015 and 2016. The workplace total was the smallest since 2012, and below the historic norm for the past 54-year period.

FactCheck.org has done a survey of women's workplace participation over a 54-year period, and has found that in only five years did the participation rate decline from the previous year, all occurring during a recession or in the year following a recession. FactCheck.org placed the women's participation rate in 2017 as the 33rd highest in that 54-year period.

It is notable that President Trump didn't create a single policy or program specifically designed to lower the unemployment rate for African Americans, Hispanics, or women, nor did he do the same for the women's workplace participation rate.