Did Karoline Leavitt say unemployment rate under Trump is at ‘historic low’? Here’s the truth

Claim:

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said, “Under President Trump the U.S. unemployment rate is at a historic low of just 4.3%. It was at a dismal rate of 3.4% under Biden.”

Rating:

In June 2026, a quote attributed to White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt spread online in which she allegedly incorrectly compared unemployment rates under U.S. President Donald Trump to former U.S. President Joe Biden. 

Snopes readers sent us the following meme with Leavitt’s alleged quote: “Under President Trump the U.S. unemployment rate is at a historic low of just 4.3%. It was at a dismal rate of 3.4% under Biden.” Variations of the meme spread on X and Instagram.

(Image via Snopes Reader)

There is no evidence that Leavitt made the above statement. We looked at archives of her press briefings and media appearances and found that while she often criticized the Biden administration and praised the Trump administration, there was no record that she ever made the above comparison of unemployment rates. As such, we rate this claim an incorrect attribution.

We searched for variations of the quote in archives of Leavitt’s videos on C-SPAN and found no such evidence of her making this statement. We also entered variations of the quote in Google, Bing (archived), and DuckDuckGo (archived) and found no reliable media sources reporting on this. If Leavitt had actually made such a statement, it would have been more widely covered in traditional media outlets.

We also reached out to the White House for comment and will update this post accordingly. 

The quote appeared to have begun circulating on or around June 24, based on the dates of the earliest examples we found on Facebook (archived) and X (archived). Its real origin is uncertain, but it’s possible its creator intended it as satire, given that a lower unemployment rate is usually considered a better sign for the economy.

While there was no evidence she said this quote, Leavitt has made real statements positively comparing the Trump administration’s actions with what she said were failures on the part of the Biden administration, sometimes invoking employment-related figures. For example, in February 2026, she said:

We are seeing promising signs every day that 2026 is going to be a record successful year for the American people, just as President Trump promised them. The January jobs report shattered expectations, highlighting how the president’s pro-growth economic agenda is fueling American prosperity. The economy added 172,000 new private sector jobs to kick off the year. That’s more than two and a half times economist predictions. The labor force participation rate went up while the unemployment rate fell. The prime age labor force participation rate is now at its highest since 2001. Most importantly, 100% of all job creation under President Trump continues to be in the private sector. This is truly remarkable. That’s 615,000 private sector jobs that have been added in President Trump’s second term thus far. These are real working people. These are real American families who will be living out their American dream.

In December 2025, Leavitt claimed the following about inflation rates during the Biden administration and the Trump administration, saying: 

After inheriting the worst inflation crisis in over four decades, President Trump’s pro-growth policies are making tremendous progress to make America affordable again. Under the painful Biden years, inflation reached a record high 9% and devoured Americans’ purchasing power. President Trump’s terms thus far inflation has dropped to an average of just 2.7%. The Trump administration is working hard every single day to bring down the cost of living through bigger paychecks and lower prices. Real wages are finally on the rise again and on pace to increase to roughly $1,200 for the average American worker this year. To put that into perspective, real wages declined by almost $3,000 under the Biden administration.

In September 2025, Leavitt also said: “President Trump inherited a much worse economy by the Biden administration than ever reported.”

According to The Economist, the unemployment rate in the U.S. was 4.3% at the time of this writing, on June 26. In December 2024, toward the end of the Biden administration, the unemployment rate was 4.1% according to the Center for American Progress, and in April 2023 the unemployment rate was 3.4% according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. 

For further reading, Snopes has covered numerous false rumors promoted by Leavitt, including the false claim that USAID provided a grant of $32,000 for a “transgender comic book” in Peru.

Sources

“Karoline Leavitt: Jobs Report Shows Trump Inherited Worse than Believed Economy from Biden .” YouTube, WAAY 31 News, 9 Sept. 2025, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0QtSuquvxto. Accessed 26 June 2026.

Liles, Jordan. “Trump WH Falsely Claimed USAID Funded ‘transgender Comic Book’ in Peru.” Snopes, 13 Feb. 2025, https://www.snopes.com//fact-check/transgender-comic-book-peru/. Accessed 26 June 2026.

Rascouët-Paz, Anna. “10 Rumors Involving Karoline Leavitt, Trump’s White House Press Secretary.” Snopes, 15 Apr. 2025, https://www.snopes.com//collections/karoline-leavitt-trump-rumors/. Accessed 26 June 2026.

“The Biden Administration Handed Over a Strong Economy.” Center for American Progress, 23 Jan. 2025, https://doi.org/https://www.americanprogress.org/article/the-biden-administration-handed-over-a-strong-economy/. Accessed 26 June 2026.

“‘This Is Truly Remarkable!’: Karoline Leavitt Rattles Of Latest Jobs Numbers .” YouTube, Forbes Breaking News, 19 Feb. 2026, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z2wkU7m9ZgI. Accessed 26 June 2026.

“Tracking the Presidency.” The Economist, 26 June 2026, https://www.economist.com/interactive/trump-approval-tracker/economy. Accessed 26 June 2026.

“Unemployment Rate 3.4 Percent in April 2023 .” U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 10 May 2023, https://www.bls.gov/opub/ted/2023/unemployment-rate-3-4-percent-in-april-2023.htm. Accessed 26 June 2026.

White House Daily Briefing. C-SPAN, 2025, https://www.c-span.org/program/white-house-event/white-house-daily-briefing/670315. Accessed 26 June 2026.