Today, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that more than 17 million Americans are still out of work and the unemployment rate remains above 11 percent. On June 19, the BLS reported that Florida’s unemployment rate rose to 14.5 percent in May. In response, Florida Democratic Party Chair Terrie Rizzo released the following statement:

“Donald Trump’s leadership failure is devastating our economy and costing Floridians their jobs, their savings, and their lives. In addition to record numbers of new coronavirus cases, hundreds of thousands of Floridians are still jobless and many are without the health care coverage they desperately need. And instead of listening to public health experts, Trump is moving on and pretending like the problem doesn’t even exist. Fortunately, Floridians have the opportunity to elect Joe Biden, an experienced leader who will prioritize public health so that Floridians can safely get back to work and get our economy back on track.”

BACKGROUND ON TRUMP’S BROKEN PROMISES ON JOBS

Promise: “Those jobs will all be back, and they’ll be back very soon.” [Trump interview with Fox & Friends, May, 8 2020]

Reality: According to today’s BLS report, “The number of permanent job losers continued to rise, increasing by 588,000 to 2.9 million in June.”