Is it true that Ivanka Trump created "millions" of jobs?
On Monday, President Trump boasted that his daughter and top White House adviser Ivanka Trump created "millions" of jobs.
"My daughter has created millions of jobs," he told a White House gathering of the nation's governors. "I don't know if anyone knows that, but she's created millions of jobs." However, he did not elaborate on this claim.
Asked by CBS News about the claim, a White House official didn't exactly answer the question but said that because of Ivanka Trump's leadership of the Office of Economic Initiatives, "millions of opportunities have been created for America's workers both by legislative and administration action, including Perkins CTE, tax reform, the National Council for the American Worker, and the 6.5 million opportunities for career enhancement, continuing education, and on-the-job training pledged by 200 companies the private sector for American students and workers."
Ivanka Trump has played a role in her father's workforce development initiatives, including co-chairing the "Council for American Worker," a White House education and job training entity. In her work for the council, she has, the White House said, highlighted the need for more vocational training and apprenticeship opportunities across the country. Mr. Trump said in his remarks on Monday that the council has "gained commitments from private sector leaders to hire and train more than 6.5 million Americans."
But those "commitments" to the president's initiative do not translate into tangible jobs created, but rather, training and "career enhancement." The Pledge to America's Workers White House website expressly notes that the commitments are not for concrete jobs, but for "new opportunities pledged for America's workers" over the next five years. Some entities, like A2Z Hospice Sterilization Corp., promised 25 opportunities, and on the high end, IPC, the association for the electronics interconnection industry, pledged 1 million. There does not appear to be a mechanism for tracking fulfilled jobs or training opportunities on the White House website.
Meanwhile, the eldest Trump daughter, who before joining her father's administration worked as a fashion model and later started her own now-defunct clothing line, weighed in on wages for American workers. She argued that most Americans don't want a "guaranteed minimum" wage, as currently outlined in the Green New Deal and throughout Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's platform.
"I don't think most Americans, in their heart, want to be given something. I've spent a lot of time traveling around this country over the last four years. People want to work for what they get. So I think that this idea of a guaranteed minimum is not something most people want. They want the ability to be able to secure a job. They want the ability to live in a country where there's the potential for upward mobility," Trump said on Fox News Channel's "The Next Revolution with Steve Hilton."
Trump went on to tout her father's impact on the nation's economy, saying the country's economic health was "undoubtedly" better than it was two years ago.
"America is doing very well and it stands in quite sharp contrast to the rest of the world. So, not only are we doing well but much of the world has slowed down in terms of the pace of their growth. And our policies are continuing to allow this economy to thrive," she added.
CBS News' Kathryn Watson contributed to this report.
