As Michigan enters a hotly contested election cycle, Democratic Governor Gretchen Whitmer continues to boast about her state welcoming 25,000 new auto jobs since she took office, but reality tells a different story about auto jobs under Whitmer’s watch.
In a statement released by the governor’s office last week, Whitmer commented on her state’s monthly jobs report and claimed that since she took office in January 2019, “Michigan has announced 25,000 good-paying auto jobs, including 10,000 in 2022 alone.”
It’s not the first time the governor has touted 25,000 auto jobs flooding the state’s economy. In early June, she tweeted, “I’m thrilled about @Ford’s $2 billion investment to create 3,200 good-paying auto jobs — add this to the nearly 25,000 auto jobs we’ve created! I will keep working with anyone to lead Michigan into a future of mobility and electrification.”
Less than a week later, Whitmer again touted massive auto job growth. “Since I took office, Michigan has added more than 25,000 auto jobs. Thanks to @Ford’s recent investment, we’re adding another 3,000,” she said.
But there’s one problem: those 25,000 new jobs Whitmer repeatedly highlights don’t seem to exist.
Whitmer’s “25,000 new auto jobs” claims led to a fact check from Detroit Free Press reporter Clara Hendrickson, who rated Whitmer’s tweets as “mostly false.” Hendrickson pointed out that employment data does not back up Whitmer’s claims, and that thousands of the 25,000 auto jobs Whitmer is said to have created “do not currently exist.”
What’s more, Michigan is actually down a net total of 1,700 auto jobs since Whitmer took office in 2019, according to figures from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). Numbers from BLS also show that the state lost 5,000 auto jobs in July, dropping 3,700 in vehicle manufacturing and 1,300 in motor vehicle parts manufacturing.
As Whitmer faces a re-election test coming up in November, her campaign website echoes the same false statement as one of her greatest accomplishments. The website states that Whitmer has “Created nearly 25,000 auto jobs as part of the biggest manufacturing boom in years, ensuring the future of auto manufacturing will be made in Michigan, by Michigan workers.”
The Whitmer campaign and governor’s office have not responded to requests from The Daily Wire to answer why they continue to trumpet a figure that’s been proven to be false.
The governor’s Republican opponent Tudor Dixon harshly criticized Whitmer’s leadership on auto manufacturing. “We’ve lost over 120,000 jobs under Gretchen Whitmer’s watch, including a net loss of 6,000 auto jobs,” Dixon said in a statement to The Daily Wire. “Michigan put the world on wheels and now Whitmer’s disastrous leadership is driving the auto companies to roll right out of Michigan.”
Auto manufacturing news hasn’t gotten better for Whitmer, who is clearly seeking to boost her economic reputation before she faces Michigan voters in November. After she celebrated Ford reportedly investing more money in the state in June, the motor company announced 3,000 job cuts in early August, saying a “significant” percentage of those cuts would be Michigan jobs.
“Gretchen Whitmer continues to lie about the creation of jobs in Michigan but the reality is she’s lost more jobs than she’s created,” Michigan GOP Deputy Chief of Staff and Communications Director Gustavo Portela told The Daily Wire. “It’s not just about the jobs she’s failed to create, it’s the fact that she routinely lies to Michiganders about fixing the roads, about keeping people safe or about wanting to deliver for Michiganders.”