Fact Checker: Jeb Bush’s economic record as Florida governor

Claim

'We made Florida number 1 in job creation. 1.3 million new jobs. 4.4 percent growth. Higher Family Income. 8 balanced budgets. Tax cuts 8 years in a row that saved our people and businesses 19 billion dollars.”

Source

New political ad from the PAC Right to Rise now airing in Iowa.

Analysis

The Right to Rise PAC once again touts Jeb Bush's record as Governor from Florida from 1999 to 2007.

'We made Florida number 1 in job creation (in the nation). 1.3 million new jobs.”

Data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics show Florida's nonfarm employment grew 1.33 million from January 1999 to January 2007. In three of those years, Florida topped the nation in the number of jobs added. But in the 8 years combined, California led the nation in job growth at 1.48 million. And when you look at the job growth rate, which accounts for the size of a state's workforce, Florida ranked fifth.

'4.4 percent growth”

Florida's gross domestic product, the combined value of the goods and services produced in the state, totaled $592.6 billion in 1999, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. By the time Bush left office in 2007, it was $803.7 billion. That works out to an average increase of 4.4 percent each year.

'Higher family income”

U.S. Census Bureau data estimated the median household income in Florida increased from $38,819 in 1999, when Bush took office, to $47,804 in 2007, the year he left. Adjusted for inflation, that $38,819 in 1999 equals $48,312 in 2007 dollars. That means workers were actually making more in 1999 than they were in 2007.

'8 balanced budgets. Tax cuts 8 years in a row that saved our people and businesses $19 billion”

This ad repeats claims we have fact-checked before. Florida is legally required to have a balanced budget. The tax cut savings of $19 billion is very difficult to measure. The PAC did it by adding up the expected impact of tax cuts when they were approved and extrapolating that savings over the course of the Bush administration. The non-profit group Tax Analysts put the estimate closer $13 billion but admits that isn't a perfect number either.

Conclusion

This ad takes several figures on job creation and income out of context. Florida was number one in job creation for 3 years under Bush, but not for the entire duration his time in office, as the ad suggests. The claim that Bush raised family income fails to account for inflation. Because of that and that shaky tax cut math we previously checked, this ad gets a ‘B.'