Donald Trump falsely claimed Sunday night that the United States economy is enduring the "slowest growth since 1929."
"We have the slowest growth since 1929. Our country has the slowest growth and jobs are a disaster," he said at the second presidential debate in St. Louis.
It was unclear exactly what stretch of time Trump referenced, but Commerce Department data do not support his claim. While the U.S. economy currently grows much more slowly than it did in the years following World War II or even as recently as the late 1990s, it has not shrunk in the last few years, as it did several times since 1929.
The U.S. economy has contracted in eight individual years since 1930, as a percent change from the previous year, according to the Commerce Department. Four of those came from 1930 to 1933 during the Great Depression.
It last shrank in 2009, the first full year of the financial crisis.
Trump has criticized the U.S. economy under President Barack Obama and pledged to revive growth by renegotiating or pulling out of trade deals and cutting taxes across the board.