Socialist Ocasio-Cortez’s False Claim: Unemployment Low Because ‘Everyone Has Two Jobs’

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the winner of the Democratic primary victory in New York's 14th
AP/Bebeto Matthews

Socialist Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said on Friday that the current unemployment rate is low “because everyone has two jobs.”

During an interview (see below) on the far-left PBS, the New York Democrat congressional candidate was asked,  “Do you think that capitalism has failed to deliver for working-class Americans?”

The self-proclaimed socialist answered by spinning our current unemployment rate of just four percent as a negative.

“Well, I think the numbers you just talked about is part of the problem, right? We look at these figures and we say, ‘Oh, unemployment is low, everything is fine,’ right?” she said, adding, “Well, unemployment is low because everyone has two jobs. Unemployment is low because people are working 60, 70, 80 hours a week and can barely feed their kids.”

She then went on to complain about America’s “no-holds barred, wild west capitalism.”

This not only shows a fundamental misunderstanding of how the unemployment rate works, but is simply false even if you accept her absurd premise.

It is just not true that “everyone has two jobs.” Fewer than five percent do, which means more than 95 percent do not, which is the opposite of “everyone. What’s more, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistic, the number of people holding multiple jobs has drifted steadily downward since 1996.

Outside of Ocasio-Cortez’s misleading hyperbole about the number of Americans moonlighting, is her ignorance of how the unemployment rate is calculated, which is not at all difficult to comprehend.

Every month the government calls tens of thousands of Americans and focuses on only one number — those who cannot find work who are willing to work and actively searching for work.

If the unemployment rate is calculated only on those without work, how does the Democrats’ latest superstar come up with the notion that the number of people with more than one job somehow lowers that number? This is pure nonsense.

This ignorance is not only coming from a Democrat who is likely to win a congressional seat this year, but someone who will then be in a position to craft legislation.

If that is not unnerving enough, Ocasio-Cortez holds a Bachelor’s Degree in economics, and likes to brag about it:

This latest PR disaster for the establishment media’s latest socialist It Girl occurred in the same interview where Ocasio-Cortez (who also holds a degree in international relations) could not explain her claim that Israel is occupying Palestine.

When pressed on the matter, she literally threw up her hands and admitted, “I am not the expert on geopolitics on this issue.”

Late last month, it was discovered that Ocasio-Cortez had been deceptive about her upbringing. After making it sound as though she had been born into poverty in the South Bronx, Breitbart News discovered that she had actually been raised in the wealthy suburb of Westchester County,  which “ranks  #8 in the nation for the counties with the highest average incomes among the wealthiest one percent of residents.”

Ocasio-Cortez also wants ICE abolished, a universal income established, government-run health care, and President Trump impeached.

 Follow John Nolte on Twitter @NolteNC. Follow his Facebook Page here.

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