Perdue Claims Black Unemployment Lowest “in U.S. History” As It “Hits 10-Year Peak”

While Black Georgians disproportionately bear costs from coronavirus, Perdue makes claim downplaying Black unemployment

ATLANTA — Despite Black unemployment recently reaching a “10-year peak,” a new Huffington Post report reveals that Senator David Perdue was recently caught claiming that Black Americans were experiencing their “lowest unemployment in U.S. history” — and that Donald Trump “has done more for that community than any president in the last decade — in the last 100 years, really.”

Perdue’s “categorically untrue” comments not only come while Black Georgians have been disproportionately affected by the coronavirus outbreak amid the state’s failed response, but also as Americans across the country and in Georgia protest for an end to systemic injustice and violence against Black lives. 

Read more on Perdue’s false comments on Black unemployment:

Huffington Post: GOP Senator Touts Low Black Unemployment As Black Unemployment Hits 10-Year Peak

• Amid an economic crisis spurred by the coronavirus pandemic that’s disproportionately hit Black and brown Americans, as hundreds of thousands of Americans march in the streets to protest racism, the Republican message to the public remains that President Donald Trump has done more for the economy ― and specifically for Blacks ― than any other president in recent history.

• As a guest on conservative Hugh Hewitt’s talk radio show this week, Georgia GOP Sen. David Perdue, who is up for reelection this year, claimed Trump has done more for Black Americans than “any president in the last…100 years,” repeating some clear falsehoods.

• “In the African American community we have the lowest unemployment in U.S. history right now —the highest middle-class income ever measured,” Perdue said, touting the Republican agenda “before COVID-19 and even in COVID-19.” 

• “President Trump has done more through justice reform, HBCUs, which are our historic black colleges and universities, and our opportunity zones… has done more for that community than any president in the last decade — in the last 100 years, really.”

• Perdue’s talking points are now categorically untrue.

• Between March and April, the unemployment rate for Black Americans shot up 10 percentage points, from 6.7% to 16.7%, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. In May, it hovered just shy of 17% — the highest figure in the last decade.

• Nationwide, Black Americans are dying at nearly two times the rate of their share of the population, and are losing jobs at a higher rate than white workers. Black-owned businesses are also being forced to shut down at a higher rate, according to a recent National Bureau of Economic Research report.

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