Facts

Wrong. As FullFact pointed out, the number of people in employment over this period fell by 580,000. Meanwhile, the employment rate (the proportion of people aged 16 to 64 who are in work) fell by 1 percentage point between the three months to February 2020 and the three months to January 2022.

Verdict 

Welfare Secretary Therese Coffey repeated a false claim that has been made by Boris Johnson and other government ministers countless times.  

We approached Dr Coffey’s office and the DWP to give her a chance to comment, but received no response.