State of the Union stretch: Fact checkers find Obama skewed big on job numbers

 On jobs, President Obama did some fast spinning, State of the Union speech fact-checkers say.

Mr. Obama claimed that “after years of grueling recession, our businesses have created over six million new jobs,” he said, according to an Associated Press report. The truth?

Mr. Obama rolled back his job count to the time in his first term when job losses were at the highest level, AP said. But doing that, AP reported, leaves out the five million-plus jobs that were lost during his administration up to that point.

The facts: Since February 2010, private sector positions grew by 6.1 million, AP reports. But job gains since Mr. Obama became president stand at 1.9 million, according to AP. And once overall losses in the public sector are considered, the number of jobs created under Mr. Obama’s watch falls even farther – to 1.2 million, AP reports.

Other exaggerated claims, according to AP fact-checkers: Mr. Obama said, “We have doubled the distance our cars will go on a gallon of gas.” More to truth, AP reported, that claim is projected to come true in 12 years.

And one more item of contention, when Mr. Obama claimed, “already, the Affordable Care Act is helping to reduce the growth of health care costs,” AP reported. Fact-check reveals that proof of these cost reductions have not yet materialized, according to AP. While some health care costs have eased, some experts say those reductions are due to the slow economy, and not Obamacare, AP reports.