Kerry's quest for "plain truth" seems include everyone but him. In today's speech to the International Association of Fire Fighters, he repeats the false claim that "new jobs being created pay $9,000 less than the ones we’ve lost."

This claim has been fully debunked by the non-partisan factcheck.org which has been critical of both the Bush and Kerry campaigns.

Kerry's Dubious Economics

Kerry bases his claim on an analysis of Bureau of Labor Statistics data by the Economic Policy Institute. But the EPI figures don't support what Kerry said, because they don't actually compare new jobs and old jobs -- only broad averages for entire industries. And as we reported July 9, other BLS numbers that compare occupation groups within industries tell a completely different story -- showing higher-paying groups growing faster than lower-paying groups.