Trump Falsely Claims 70,000 New Construction Jobs Added in State of the Union

In his 2026 State of the Union, Trump claimed 'We have added 70,000 new construction jobs in just a very short period of time.' This is false. Bureau of Labor Statistics data shows that from January 2025 to January 2026, only 44,000 construction jobs were added, not 70,000. Trump inflated the figure by roughly 60%. Overall job growth between January 2025 and January 2026 was 359,000 jobs (0.2%), compared to 1.2 million jobs (0.8%) in Biden's final year.

"We have added 70,000 new construction jobs in just a very short period of time." — State of the Union address to joint session of Congress, February 24, 2026