FOR CLEAN VERSION SEE STORY NUMBER: apus060919

In his centerpiece speech on the economy, Donald Trump wrongly accused Hillary Clinton of wanting to increase middle-class taxes and blamed America's crumbling roads and bridges in part on the money spent on refugees, a minuscule expense in comparison with infrastructure.

A look at some of his claims and how they compare with the facts:

TRUMP: The country's infrastructure has suffered "yet we found the money to resettle millions of refugees at taxpayer expense."

THE FACT: You have to go a long way back to get to "millions" of refugees.

Over the last eight years, the period Trump addresses when pointing to failures of President Barack Obama, the U.S. resettled 530,830 refugees. That includes many from the final year of the Bush administration. So far in the budget year that ends Sept. 30, the U.S. has resettled 59,099 refugees. Last year, 69,933. Over the last 15 years: about 850,000.

The State Department puts the cost of the resettlement program to taxpayers at less than $1.2 billion a year. That's roughly 0.03 percent of the federal budget, a rounding error according to most experts. That sum would hardly make up for the infrastructure shortfall. The American Society of Civil Engineers said in a report that the government needs to spend $1.4 trillion through 2025 to close the infrastructure funding gap.

___

TRUMP: "According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, before NAFTA went into effect, there were 285,000 auto workers in Michigan. Today, that number is only 160,000."

THE FACTS: Trump is playing fast and loose with the stats. The numbers cited in his speech don't even line up with the footnotes provided by his campaign.

Michigan actually added jobs after the North American Free Trade Agreement began in 1994, when auto plants employed roughly 200,000 workers. Over the next six years, their ranks increased to 231,000. The decline only occurred after the tech bubble burst and U.S. automakers lost market share among U.S. consumers, a decline that prompted a government bailout that caused Michigan auto jobs to start rising again in late 2009.

Many U.S. auto jobs also relocated to other states. Foreign automakers such as Toyota, Honda and Nissan built plants in other states, including Ohio, Indiana, Kentucky, Tennessee and Alabama.

An analysis by the liberal Economic Policy Institute shows that auto job growth in Mexico began to sharply accelerate in 2004. One reason why auto production has increased so much in Mexico is its extensive network of international trade agreements in addition to NAFTA, with German luxury carmaker BMW calling the agreements in 2014 a decisive factor for building its first auto plants in Mexico.

___

TRUMP on the unemployment rate: "This 5 percent figure is one of the biggest hoaxes in modern American politics."

THE FACTS: The unemployment rate has its shortcomings but it is not a "hoax."

The unemployment rate has become controversial since the recession ended because many people have stopped looking for work, and the government doesn't count those out of work unless they are actively searching for jobs. If an unemployed person gives up on a job hunt, that reduces the unemployment rate without anyone being hired, so it has overstated the improvement in the job market.

Still, a broader measure of unemployment that includes people who have recently stopped looking for jobs has also fallen — from a peak of 17.4 percent in 2010 to 9.7 percent now.

The proportion of Americans working or looking for work is now 62.8 percent, near the lowest level since the 1970s. That's down from 66 percent before the recession. At least half that decline in the workforce stems from greater retirements, as baby boomers age.

Many of the figures Trump cited in his speech are compiled by the same monthly survey that produces the unemployment figure he considers a hoax.

Detroit - 8 August 2016

1. SOUNDBITE (English) Donald Trump, (R) Presidential Nominee:

"Our roads and bridges fell into disrepair, yet we found the money to resettle millions of refugees at taxpayer expense."

Washington - 8 August 2016

2. SOUNDBITE (English) Christ Rugaber, AP Economics Writer:

"Trump said that the United States has resettled millions of refugees. At the same time, he complained about our infrastructure and said we haven't spent as much on that as we could, and the two things don't necessarily match. In the past 15 years, we resettled maybe about 850,000 refugees. So, the idea that we've resettled millions isn't accurate."

++WHITE FLASH++

3. SOUNDBITE (English) Christ Rugaber, AP Economics Writer:

"And the cost of resettling those people is about 1.2 billion, which most people would consider a rounding error in the federal budget of over three trillion a year. So, it's really unlikely that our infrastructure spending has suffered because of resettling refugees."

Detroit - 8 August 2016

4. SOUNDBITE (English) Donald Trump, (R) Presidential Nominee:

"The five percent figure is one of the biggest hoaxes in American modern politics."

Washington - 8 August 2016

5. SOUNDBITE (English) Christ Rugaber, AP Economics Writer:

"Donald Trump said the unemployment rate is a hoax, which is definitely an overstatement. It has its shortcomings, but it's a number presidents have cited for decades. It's been collected pretty much the same way by the Census Bureau and Labor Department since World War II. It has become controversial in recent years because many people have stopped looking for work even if they were unemployed. So when an unemployed person stops job-hunting, they're no longer accounted as unemployed and that does help sort of artificially lower the unemployment rate. But at the same time, over 14 million Americans have gotten jobs since 2010, so the rate has also gone down for that reason."

Detroit - 8 August 2016

6. SOUNDBITE (English) Donald Trump, (R) Presidential Nominee:

"According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, before NAFTA went into effect, there were 285,000 auto workers in Michigan. Today, that number is only 160,000."

Washington - 8 August 2016

7. SOUNDBITE (English) Christ Rugaber, AP Economics Writer:

"Well, Donald Trump is blaming the North American Free Trade Agreement for hitting auto jobs in Michigan. In fact, the number of auto jobs increased in Michigan after NAFTA went into effect. Some of those jobs have certainly since then been lost, but many of the jobs, auto jobs, in Michigan have gone to other US states, such as Ohio, Indiana, and even some southern states such as Tennessee."

In his centerpiece speech on the economy, Donald Trump wrongly accused Hillary Clinton of wanting to increase middle-class taxes and blamed America's crumbling roads and bridges in part on the money spent on refugees, a minuscule expense in comparison with infrastructure.

A look at some of his claims and how they compare with the facts:

TRUMP: "She said she wanted to raise taxes on the middle class."

THE FACTS: If Clinton said that — and it's highly debatable — it's clear she didn't mean to. Her economic agenda calls for middle-class tax cuts (which are not specified) and she has repeatedly said she would not raise taxes on middle incomes. In a speech in Omaha, Nebraska, last week, she talked about "fairer rules for the middle class" and delivered a line that was difficult to understand, either "we are going to raise taxes on the middle class" or "we aren't."

If she said the former, it was obviously a flub. Her policy on middle-class taxes has been consistent — no increases.

___

TRUMP: The country's infrastructure has suffered "yet we found the money to resettle millions of refugees at taxpayer expense."

THE FACT: You have to go a long way back to get to "millions" of refugees.

Over the last eight years, the period Trump addresses when pointing to failures of President Barack Obama, the U.S. resettled 530,830 refugees. That includes many from the final year of the Bush administration. So far in the budget year that ends Sept. 30, the U.S. has resettled 59,099 refugees. Last year, 69,933. Over the last 15 years: about 850,000.

The State Department puts the cost of the resettlement program to taxpayers at less than $1.2 billion a year. That's roughly 0.03 percent of the federal budget, a rounding error according to most experts. That sum would hardly make up for the infrastructure shortfall. The American Society of Civil Engineers said in a report that the government needs to spend $1.4 trillion through 2025 to close the infrastructure funding gap.

___

TRUMP: "According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, before NAFTA went into effect, there were 285,000 auto workers in Michigan. Today, that number is only 160,000."

THE FACTS: Trump is playing fast and loose with the stats. The numbers cited in his speech don't even line up with the footnotes provided by his campaign.

Michigan actually added jobs after the North American Free Trade Agreement began in 1994, when auto plants employed roughly 200,000 workers. Over the next six years, their ranks increased to 231,000. The decline only occurred after the tech bubble burst and U.S. automakers lost market share among U.S. consumers, a decline that prompted a government bailout that caused Michigan auto jobs to start rising again in late 2009.

Many U.S. auto jobs also relocated to other states. Foreign automakers such as Toyota, Honda and Nissan built plants in other states, including Ohio, Indiana, Kentucky, Tennessee and Alabama.

An analysis by the liberal Economic Policy Institute shows that auto job growth in Mexico began to sharply accelerate in 2004. One reason why auto production has increased so much in Mexico is its extensive network of international trade agreements in addition to NAFTA, with German luxury carmaker BMW calling the agreements in 2014 a decisive factor for building its first auto plants in Mexico.

___

TRUMP on the unemployment rate: "This 5 percent figure is one of the biggest hoaxes in modern American politics."

THE FACTS: The unemployment rate has its shortcomings but it is not a "hoax."

The unemployment rate has become controversial since the recession ended because many people have stopped looking for work, and the government doesn't count those out of work unless they are actively searching for jobs. If an unemployed person gives up on a job hunt, that reduces the unemployment rate without anyone being hired, so it has overstated the improvement in the job market.

Still, a broader measure of unemployment that includes people who have recently stopped looking for jobs has also fallen — from a peak of 17.4 percent in 2010 to 9.7 percent now.

The proportion of Americans working or looking for work is now 62.8 percent, near the lowest level since the 1970s. That's down from 66 percent before the recession. At least half that decline in the workforce stems from greater retirements, as baby boomers age.

Many of the figures Trump cited in his speech are compiled by the same monthly survey that produces the unemployment figure he considers a hoax.

AP TELEVISION

Detroit - 8 August 2016

1. SOUNDBITE (English) Donald Trump, (R) Presidential Nominee:

"Hillary Clinton short-circuited again, to use a now famous term, when she accidentally told the truth and said that she wanted to raise taxes on the middle class."

AP TELEVISION

Washington - 8 August 2016

2. SOUNDBITE (English) Christ Rugaber, AP Economics Writer:

"Hillary Clinton may have said she would raise taxes on the middle class in a recent speech but it was seen by most people as a flub, a simple misstatement. She's repeatedly said in other parts of the campaign that she would not raise taxes on the middle class. She's talked about cutting taxes for the middle class, although she hasn't really detailed that. But it seems unlikely that she meant to say that she would raise taxes on the middle class. So it seems like Trump is sort of taking advantage of a flub or a little gaffe."

POOL

Omaha, Nebraska - 1 August 2016

3. SOUNDBITE (English) Hillary Clinton, (D) Presidential Nominee:

"We're not going there my friends. I'm telling you right now, we're going to write fairer rules for the middle class and we aren't going to raise taxes on the middle class."

AP TELEVISION

Washington - 8 August 2016

4. SOUNDBITE (English) Christ Rugaber, AP Economics Writer:

"Trump said that the United States has resettled millions of refugees. At the same time, he complained about our infrastructure and said we haven't spent as much on that as we could, and the two things don't necessarily match. In the past 15 years, we resettled maybe about 850,000 refugees. So, the idea that we've resettled millions isn't accurate."

AP TELEVISION

Detroit - 8 August 2016

5. SOUNDBITE (English) Donald Trump, (R) Presidential Nominee:

"Our roads and bridges fell into disrepair, yet we found the money to resettle millions of refugees at tax payer expense."

AP TELEVISION

Washington - 8 August 2016

6. SOUNDBITE (English) Christ Rugaber, AP Economics Writer:

"And the cost of resettling those people is about 1.2 billion, which most people would consider a rounding error in the federal budget of over three trillion a year. So, it's really unlikely that our infrastructure spending has suffered because of resettling refugees."

AP TELEVISION

Detroit - 8 August 2016

7. Trump on stage as crowd applauds

AP TELEVISION

Washington - 8 August 2016

8. SOUNDBITE (English) Christ Rugaber, AP Economics Writer:

"Donald Trump said the unemployment rate is a hoax, which is definitely an overstatement. It has its shortcomings, but it's a number presidents have cited for decades. It's been collected pretty much the same way by the Census Bureau and Labor Department since World War II. It has become controversial in recent years because many people have stopped looking for work even if they were unemployed. So when an unemployed person stops job-hunting, they're no longer accounted as unemployed and that does help sort of artificially lower the unemployment rate. But at the same time, over 14 million Americans have gotten jobs since 2010, so the rate has also gone down for that reason."

AP TELEVISION

Detroit - 8 August 2016

9. SOUNDBITE (English) Donald Trump, (R) Presidential Nominee:

"The five percent figure is one of the biggest hoaxes in American modern politics."

AP TELEVISION

Washington - 8 August 2016

10. SOUNDBITE (English) Christ Rugaber, AP Economics Writer:

"Well, Donald Trump is blaming the North American Free Trade Agreement for hitting auto jobs in Michigan. In fact, the number of auto jobs increased in Michigan after NAFTA went into effect. Some of those jobs have certainly since then been lost, but many of the jobs, auto jobs, in Michigan have gone to other US states, such as Ohio, Indiana, and even some southern states such as Tennessee."

AP TELEVISION

Detroit - 8 August 2016

11. SOUNDBITE (English) Donald Trump, (R) Presidential Nominee:

"According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, before NAFTA went into effect, there were 285,000 auto workers in Michigan. Today, that number is only 160,000."

12. Trump walking off stage after speaking