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The claim

“Unemployment was soaring” when Biden and Harris took office in January 2021.

Rating

Mostly False

Reviewed by PolitiFact ↗ ·

Original fact check ↗

PeakMetrics research summary

Based on related reporting.

Related reporting states that Biden inherited an unemployment rate of 6.8% from Trump’s first term. That figure is relevant to the claim, but the supplied excerpt does not establish whether unemployment was “soaring” at the time.[S2]

Research date:

Sources and attribution

  1. [original] PolitiFact original review

    Original review · Retrieved October 16, 2026

  2. [S2] Hiltzik: How bad is Trump’s economy? Election results say it’s very bad, and getting worse

    Additional research · Retrieved October 16, 2026