Fact Check: Kamala Harris Falsely Claims People are Forced to Work Multiple Jobs to Make Ends Meet

Harris
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Democratic presidential hopeful Senator Kamala Harris falsely claimed that the Trump economy was forcing people to work in multiple jobs because single jobs did not pay enough.

“I’m meeting people working two or three jobs,” Harris said during the Democrat candidate debate Thursday night. “They point to the joblessness numbers and the unemployment numbers. Well, yeah, people in America are working. They’re working two or three jobs.”

Just 1.9 million people in America held two or more part-time jobs, according to the data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. That is fewer than the 2.3 million workers with two part-time jobs in November of 2016 when Donald Trump as elected. The number of people working one full-time job and one part-time job has jumped up on down month to month but sits about where it did when Trump took office.

The rate of people holding multiple jobs has actually declined in recent years, although it remains within the recent historical range of between 4.7 and 5.2 percent.

Harris claimed without evidence that people are forced to work multiple jobs to make ends meet because full-time work is not available. In fact, unemployment is near fifty-year lows and there are more positions available for workers than unemployed workers.

These claims are false or misleading.

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