Fact Checking the Debate Claims on Jobs Part 1

There was a lot of talk about jobs in the debate last night. From factcheck.org, here’s a bit of a clarification on Romney’s assertion that Obama has failed the country because there are 23 million people who are unemployed.

http://factcheck.org/2012/10/dubious-denver-debate-declarations/

Romney overstated the number of unemployed Americans when he said that there were “23 million people out of work.” There were 12.5 million unemployed Americans in August, the most recent figures from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Romney meant to refer to the unemployed, plus those working part-time who want full-time work (8 million) and those who are considered “marginally attached” to the labor force because they have not looked for work in the past four weeks (2.6 million). All of that adds up to 23.1 million. Romney got his talking point closer to the truth when he said, “We’ve got 23 million people out of work or stopped looking for work in this country.” But he still left out the 8 million who are working part-time for economic reasons.