LOUISVILLE, Ky. — With political ads from both GOP candidate and Attorney General Daniel Cameron and Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear running on television, people have questions.
Tom Zoeller asked WHAS11 about this part of Beshear's campaign ad: "Under Andy Beshear, Kentucky is a national leader in economic growth, we're creating jobs for the future and there's more work to be done.
Tom Zoeller wanted to know exactly what made Kentucky a national leader in economic growth, and by what standard.
Sources:
- Beshear campaign office
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
Answer:
The campaign sent WHAS11 several metrics explaining their claim.
We focused in on two claims that compare Kentucky nationally to other states.
The first said in August 2022, Kentucky's workforce saw the largest percentage increase in the nation.
And then, from July 2022 to August 2022, Kentucky added thousands of jobs pushing the Commonwealth to first in the nation.
The important thing to point out is the date; these metrics are coming from specific months in 2022.
And they are correct.
In August 2022 Kentucky had the largest job gains of any state adding a whopping 26,700 non-farm-related jobs.
In that same time frame, the state saw the largest percentage increase in the workforce, but again that was 2022.
Since then the rates have stayed pretty steady.
Under Beshear, the unemployment rate did hit its lowest ever point at 3.7%.
It's only gone up a tiny bit since then; as of May 2023 its 3.8%.
So, while the claims are technically true, they do need context.
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