What Happened to All the Jobs Trump Promised?

Carrier

Indianapolis, Indiana

Carrier stepped it up and now they're keeping – actually the number's over 1,100 people, which is so great,"   Trump said in a speech   at the Carrier plant in Indianapolis on Dec. 1, 2016.

Mike Pence, then governor of Indiana, began negotiations with Carrier in March 2016, months before he became Trump's running mate, according to briefing materials prepared by the Indiana Economic Development Corporation. Trump's claim counts 300 jobs that were never at risk and ignores more than 500 that ended up being eliminated even after the state offered Carrier $7 million to preserve the jobs.

Softbank

Nationwide

Masa of Japan has agreed to invest $50 billion in the U.S. toward businesses and 50,000 new jobs,"   Trump tweeted , referring to Softbank CEO Masayoshi Son. "Masa said he would never do this had we not won the election!"

The money comes from SoftBank and an investment fund it launched with Saudi Arabia before the election. Much of that funding was likely to end up in the U.S. anyway because SoftBank has invested here extensively in the past and high-tech venture capital is concentrated in the U.S. The investments to date have created about 10,000 jobs, which is behind pace to meet the goal in four years.

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Ford

Flat Rock, Michigan

Thank you to Ford for scrapping a new plant in Mexico and creating 700 new jobs in the U.S.,"   Trump tweeted . "This is just the beginning - much more to follow."

Ford’s 2017 plans to add 700 jobs at the Flat Rock Assembly Plant in Michigan were scrapped. Instead, the company announced it was investing more than $850 million in the plant through 2023 and planning to create 900 direct jobs in Southeast Michigan.

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Alibaba

Nationwide

Alibaba's chief visited Trump and pledged   1 million jobs . Trump took credit for the new jobs.

The gentleman from China, Ma, Jack Ma [chairman of Alibaba Group], he comes up, he says, 'Only because of you am I making this massive investment.'"   Trump said in an AP interview .

In an interview with Chinese media in September 2018, the chairman of Alibaba said the "promise cannot be fulfilled" because U.S.-China relations had soured since the initial announcement. "The promise was made on the premise of friendly U.S.-China partnership and rational trade relations. That premise no longer exists today," Ma said. Still, Alibaba is committed to serving as a "Gateway to China" by helping U.S. businesses sell to Chinese consumers on its platforms, which was the strategy for creating those 1 million indirect jobs in the first place.

Amazon

Nationwide

After Amazon announced plans to hire 100,000 people, the Trump transition team claimed credit.

The President-elect was pleased to have played a role in that decision by Amazon,"   a Trump spokesman told the Wall Street Journal   .

The hiring was on pace with Amazon's growth in past years and according to the original press release, many of the new jobs will be at fulfullment centers that were already under construction.

Bayer

Bayer AG has pledged to add U.S. jobs and investments after meeting with President-elect Donald Trump, the latest in a string,"   Trump tweeted, quoting a Wall Street Journal article.

The hiring is contingent on Bayer's acquisition of Monsanto, which is still pending regulatory approval. It would occur over six years.

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General Motors

Nationwide

GM said it would create or retain 1,500 manufacturing jobs in 2017 and 5,000 high-tech jobs over several years. “Thank you to General Motors and Walmart for starting the big jobs push back into the U.S.!" Trump tweeted. Two months later, GM made additional job promises. “We're going to create 900 brand-new jobs, it was just announced, and that's going to be peanuts compared to the kind of numbers we're going to be seeing in the near future," Trump said at a CEO roundtable in Ypsilanti, Michigan, on March 15, 2017. "It's going to be thousands and thousands of workers."

Although GM said it has created thousands of jobs — a mix of manufacturing and high-tech positions — the company has started a restructuring process that threatens nearly 3,000 jobs at four plants in the U.S. A spokesperson for GM said 1,300 of the affected employees have so far transferred to other facilities. GM’s U.S. hourly workforce went from 55,000 in 2016 to 50,000 in 2018.

Walmart

Nationwide

Walmart announced plans to hire   10,000 people .

Thank you to General Motors and Walmart for starting the big jobs push back into the U.S.!"   Trump tweeted .

The hires are part of a spending plan announced in October 2016, before Trump was elected. Walmart wouldn't comment on its progress.

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Lockheed Martin

Fort Worth, Texas

In a meeting with Trump, Lockheed Martin's CEO told the then-president-elect about a plan to add   1,800 jobs . Trump said he was the reason for the hires.

Totally biased @NBCNews went out of its way to say that the big announcement from Ford, G.M., Lockheed & others that jobs are coming back to the U.S., but had nothing to do with TRUMP, is more FAKE NEWS,"   Trump tweeted . "Ask top CEO's of those companies for real facts. Came back because of me!"

Lockheed Martin actually needed more workers than initially promised for the F-35 fighter jet program in Fort Worth, adding nearly 3,000 employees to the project since 2017. The jobs are part of the program to buy F-35 fighter jets, which is set in the Pentagon's budget every year.

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Keystone XL and Dakota Access Pipelines

Montana, South Dakota and Nebraska  
North Dakota, South Dakota, Iowa and Illinois

I authorized the construction of the Keystone Pipeline and the Dakota Access Pipeline, over 50,000 jobs, 50,000 beautiful construction jobs,"   Trump said at a rally   on Sept. 22, 2017, in Huntsville, Alabama (At other times, he has put the number at 28,000, 38,000, 42,000 and 48,000.)

Fifty-two people currently work on the Dakota Access Pipeline — a project that ended up creating 10,000 construction jobs between 2015 and 2017. A spokesperson for the company that operates the Dakota Access Pipeline said Trump enabled the company to finish construction after he directed the Army Corps of Engineers to revive the permit process for the final stretch of the pipeline. A 2014 State Department report estimated that the Keystone XL Pipeline would create just over 30 permanent positions, 15 temporary contractors and 3,900 constructions jobs.

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Accenture

Nationwide

President Trump has worked hand-in-hand with the private sector to get companies re-investing in America,"   the White House said   in an official statement on March 31, 2017. As one example, it noted, "Accenture announced the creation of 15,000 new high skilled jobs in the next four years and a $1.4 billion investment in training its own employees."

Accenture said it planned to create 15,000 jobs by 2020. So far the company is on track to create 3,800 new jobs across eight cities.

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Intel

Chandler, Arizona

Intel just announced that it will move ahead with a new plant in Arizona that probably was never going to move ahead with,"   Trump said at the White House   on Feb. 16, 2017. "And that will result in at least 10,000 American jobs."

In 2011, Intel announced plans to build the facility but held off until it saw sufficient demand. The investment will create 3,000 new direct jobs and is expected to create 7,000 indirect jobs.

ExxonMobil

Gulf Coast

45,000 construction & manufacturing jobs in the U.S. Gulf Coast region. $20 billion investment. We are already winning again, America!"   Trump tweeted . (An official White House statement partly copied Exxon's announcement verbatim.)

The investment plan began in 2013, and several of the components have already been completed.

Charter Communications

McAllen, Texas

Today, I was thrilled to announce a commitment of $25 BILLION & 20K AMERICAN JOBS over the next 4 years. THANK YOU Charter Communications!"   Trump tweeted .

The plan to add these jobs dates back to 2015, stemming from the acquisitions of Bright House and Time Warner Cable. Charter's U.S. employment increased by 2,500 people since the end of 2016.

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Ford

Romeo, Michigan

Big announcement by Ford today.   Major investment to be made in three Michigan plants. Car companies coming back to U.S. JOBS! JOBS! JOBS!"   Trump tweeted .

The Romeo Engine Plant in Michigan has only retained 70 jobs instead of 130, according to the automobile workers union. A spokesperson for Ford said the company expects “the majority of the created and retained jobs at Romeo Engine Plant to come during 2019.”

Saudi Arabia

Just arrived in Italy for the G7,"   Trump tweeted . "Trip has been very successful. We made and saved the USA many billions of dollars and millions of jobs."

We've treated this conservatively, as a promise to create a minimum of 1 million jobs.

This trade mission consisted of an arms deal and several other commercial agreements. Boeing had a mix of preliminary agreements and contracts, and the company would say only that they might eventually create "thousands" of jobs in the U.S. and Saudi Arabia. Lockheed Martin said its agreements would create 18,000 U.S. jobs "once fully realized ... over the next 30 years." General Dynamics agreed to move production to Saudi Arabia, which is unlikely to create U.S. jobs. Blackstone announced an infrastructure fund that was already in the works for a year and hasn't made any investments yet. GE didn't report any jobs in the U.S. as a result of its deals in Saudi Arabia.

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Samsung

Newberry County, South Carolina

Thank you, @Samsung! We would love to have you!"   Trump tweeted , linking to an article about Samsung planning a new U.S. factory.

A press release said the factory would create   954 jobs .

Samsung has created more than 600 jobs so far at its washing machine plant in South Carolina. Samsung began exploring a U.S. expansion several years ago and entered talks with South Carolina in the fall of 2016.

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Corning, Merck and Pfizer

Big Flats, New York; Tarboro, North Carolina; Durham, North Carolina; Vineland, New Jersey

Billions of dollars in investments & thousands of new jobs in America!"   Trump tweeted , linking to   the official White House announcement about Corning, Merck and Pfizer's initiative.

Corning is collaborating with Merck and Pfizer on pharmaceutical glass packaging. The company said the White House Office of American Innovation was “instrumental” in helping Corning navigate the FDA approvals process.

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Foxconn

Racine County, Wisconsin

Thank you Foxconn, for investing $10 BILLION DOLLARS with the potential for up to 13K new jobs in Wisconsin! MadeInTheUSA"   Trump tweeted .

In a January 2019 letter to the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation, Foxconn said it created 178 full-time jobs, falling short of the 260 jobs target to receive tax credits from the state. (WEDC does not count the 854 temporary construction jobs Foxconn created toward the tax credit target.) In January, Reuters reported Foxconn was contemplating making its Wisconsin campus a research technology hub instead of a manufacturing center for liquid crystal display screens. Foxconn later said it was committed to following through on its original plans. In a statement to ProPublica, the Foxconn Technology Group said the "facility will create employment opportunities in a number of varying roles from highly technical to research and development as well as general manufacturing." The company is hosting an “advanced manufacturing interview event” in Mount Pleasant, Wisconsin, in early May.

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Mazda - Toyota

Huntsville, Alabama

Toyota & Mazda to build a new $1.6B plant here in the U.S.A. and create 4K new American jobs,"   Trump tweeted . "A great investment in American manufacturing!"

The project is expected to create up to 4,000 new jobs by 2021. “Our investment cycles go beyond any particular political cycle,” a Toyota spokesperson said. “We make decisions based on what we think the market needs rather than the policy direction of the moment.”

Denso

Maryville, Tennessee

We're very pleased that just last month Denso announced that it will invest $1 billion to expand its activities in Tennessee... and create over 1,000 new jobs,"   Trump said to business leaders in Tokyo   on Nov. 6, 2017.

"We’ve been working on this for three years, well before the most recent U.S. election," a company spokeswoman said. The company also got more than $16 million in tax credits and grants from the county, plus additional incentives from the state and the Tennessee Valley Authority.

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Lockheed Martin

Greenville, South Carolina; Fort Worth, Texas

My administration has also informed Congress of a potential sale to Greece to upgrade its F-16 aircraft,"   Trump said   at a White House press conference with the Greek prime minister on Oct. 17, 2017. "This agreement to strengthen the Hellenic Air Force is worth up to $2.4 billion and would generate thousands of American jobs."

Lockheed Martin makes Greece's F-16s.

Lockheed Martin’s new F-16 production line in Greenville, South Carolina, is expected to create about 400 jobs. But, as for the program to upgrade F-16s for Greece, a spokesperson for the company said that contract would be sustained by the workforce Lockheed already has in place.

Boeing

The order is $13.8 billion and most importantly it's about 70,000 jobs,"   Trump said at a White House signing ceremony with executives from Boeing and Singapore Airlines. "Those are all jobs in this country... Otherwise we'll cancel the order."

This isn't a concrete plan to hire people, it's an estimate of potential indirect jobs that will be supported, based on a Commerce Department formula and the sticker price of the planes.

Broadcom

What he's doing is committing to massive amounts of American jobs,"   Trump said of Broadcom's CEO at a White House event billed as a "jobs announcement."

Broadcom announced it would move its corporate headquarters back from Singapore to the U.S. with no effect on employment. "We do not anticipate the redomiciliation having any impact on our day-to-day business and operations, or affecting employee staffing levels or responsibilities at, or investment in, any of our global locations," CEO Hock Tan said in a message to employees.

China

President Trump promoted American prosperity and trade, including new investments that will employ thousands of American workers,"   the White House said   on Nov. 10, 2017.

The White House didn't get more precise than "thousands," so we went to the underlying announcements from the companies involved.

This trade mission consisted of several deals that might create jobs in the U.S. if they're finalized later. Agreements with China Energy, Sinopec, Qualcomm and Viroment are just initial deals to keep talking. The Alaska Gasline Development Corporation, which is seeking to develop an LNG terminal in Alaska, said the project would create 9,000 to 12,000 jobs, based on a study for an earlier aborted plan involving ExxonMobil. The company expects 700 to 1,000 jobs during operation. A pair of Viroment deals could create 250 jobs.

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Tax reform

When we began our push for tax cuts, I promised that our bill would result in more jobs, higher wages, and tremendous relief for middle-class families, and that is exactly what we have delivered,"   Trump said in a speech   in Coraopolis, Pennsylvania, on Jan. 18, 2018.

The White House hasn't made a precise claim about job creation from the tax bill, so we tracked the individual statements from companies.

Scores of companies celebrated corporate tax cuts by announcing one-time bonuses and capital spending, but very few of those announcements involved new jobs. Washington Federal said it's adding 25 IT jobs, but those were planned regardless of the tax bill. Comcast said it would "add thousands of new direct and indirect jobs," but it quietly cut 500 people. Update: AT&T promised to invest $1 billion once the tax bill became law and suggested this move would create 7,000 jobs. The company cut close to 10,000 jobs in 2018, according to its public filings.

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Apple

Nationwide

I promised that my policies would allow companies like Apple to bring massive amounts of money back to the United States. Great to see Apple follow through as a result of TAX CUTS. Huge win for American workers and the USA!"   Trump tweeted .

Apple added 6,000 U.S. jobs in 2018 and still expects to create 20,000 jobs by 2023. A spokesperson would not confirm the new jobs were related to the tax overhaul. Nonetheless, this hiring seems on pace with Apple's historic growth. Between 2016 and 2018, Apple’s U.S. workforce increased by 10,000.

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LG

Clarksville, Tennessee

Trump imposed a tariff on imported washing machines, saying the measure would support American jobs like the ones that LG is in   the process of creating .

Our action today helps to create jobs in America for Americans. It will provide a strong incentive for LG and Samsung to follow through on their recent promises to build major manufacturing plants for washing machines right here in the United States,"   the White House said .

(We reviewed the Samsung plant separately.)

LG’s washing machine plant in Tennessee is expected to be running at full capacity by the end of the year, creating 600 new U.S. jobs. But the company had been planning this U.S. expansion long before these tariffs were put in place.

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JPMorgan Chase

Nationwide

JPMorgan announced a $20 billion five-year spending plan that included   hiring 4,000 people .

Tremendous investment by companies from all over the world being made in America. There has never been anything like it. Now Disney, J.P. Morgan Chase and many others. Massive Regulation Reduction and Tax Cuts are making us a powerhouse again. Long way to go! Jobs, Jobs, Jobs!"   Trump tweeted.

(Disney announced bonuses but not new jobs.)

So far JPMorgan Chase has opened 11 new branches in seven cities and hired almost 300 employees. The bank said its investments were "made possible by the firm’s strong and sustained business performance, recent changes to the U.S. corporate tax system and a more constructive regulatory and business environment."

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Liberty Steel Georgetown

Georgetown, South Carolina

We were in South Carolina the other night, and Georgetown Steel — Georgetown is a wonderful company — couldn’t make it. They closed four years ago. They announced — as I literally was getting off the plane, they announced that they were opening up their steel mill; 600 people are employed,” Trump said in a speech at the White House.

The steel plant in Georgetown, South Carolina, closed in 2015 and reopened in 2018 after being acquired by Liberty House. The plant currently employs 200 people. A spokesperson for Liberty House said the company's investment in the U.S. steel sector was motivated by “the incoming President’s stated intention to boost manufacturing industry.”

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Commercial Metals Company

Durant, Oklahoma

Trump said that Commercial Metals Company, a steel manufacturer, would create 300 jobs in Oklahoma.

Plans for the mill in Durant, Oklahoma, that Trump was referring to were announced in July 2015. The mill has created about 250 jobs.

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Nucor

Polk County, Florida

In a speech about the American steel industry, Trump said that Nucor, a steel company headquartered in North Carolina, will create 250 jobs and added, “but ultimately going to at least 1,000 jobs in the great state of Florida, another state we won. Big.”

Nucor says it will create thousands of jobs over the next few years — just not all in Florida. Its rebar micromill in Florida will create 250 full-time jobs by 2020 and an estimated 450 construction jobs. The other jobs are divided between projects in Kentucky, Arkansas, Missouri, Illinois and Ohio. Nucor welcomed Trump’s steel tariffs. In a press release about the tariffs, Nucor President John Ferriola thanked Trump "for taking decisive and meaningful action to address the massive flood of dumped and illegally subsidized steel imports into the United States.”

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Pledge to America's Workers

Nationwide

Trump claimed Ivanka created “millions of jobs” through the Pledge to America’s Workers initiative, which the White House website describes as a program to engage companies to commit to "expand programs that educate, train, and reskill American workers from high-school age to near-retirement."

Last year, my administration created the Council for American Worker and launched the Pledge of America’s Workers, where we’ve gained commitments from private-sector leaders to hire and train more than 6.5 million Americans. Think of it: 6.5 million. And these are jobs that, for the most part, would not have happened,” Trump said.

According to the program’s website, hundreds of companies have pledged nearly 8 million "opportunities." Among them: IBM pledged 100,000 training and skill-building opportunities for students and employees over five years. Hewlett Packard Enterprise pledged 6,700 opportunities that include apprenticeships, job training and continuing education. But few, if any, represent actual jobs.

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Fiat Chrysler

Michigan and Ohio

It's finally happening - Fiat Chrysler just announced plans to invest $1BILLION in Michigan and Ohio plants, adding 2000 jobs,"   Trump tweeted   in January 2017. "Fiat Chrysler will be adding more than 6,500 JOBS in Michigan (Detroit area), doubling its hourly workforce as part of a 4.5 Billion Dollar investment. Thank you Fiat Chrysler. They are all coming back to the USA, it’s where the action is!" Trump tweeted in February.

These investments and job creation estimates are part of restructuring plans Fiat announced in 2016. The company is focusing on manufacturing SUVs and trucks instead of compact cars.

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Ford

Chicago, Illinois

Trump took credit for creating car manufacturing jobs in a speech in Ohio, including hundreds of jobs at a Ford plant in Chicago.

The world goes up; we go up with the world. The world is down, but we still go up,” he said. “Ford is bringing hundreds of new jobs to Chicago and other places.”

Those hundreds of jobs were negotiated in the 2015 union contract.