Trump says U.S. in 'golden age' for small business owners

Aug. 1 (UPI) -- At a White House event for 100 small business owners Tuesday, President Donald Trump said the United States is in a "golden age" for small business and praised his administration's effort to loosen regulations.

"We're ending job-killing legislation," Trump said. "We're eliminating the massive restrictions on American energy."

The president also said unemployment is at a 16-year low.

"The jobs are coming pouring back, factories are coming pouring back into our country," Trump said. "We're unleashing a new era of American prosperity perhaps like we have never seen it before."

Trump ended his remarks by praising the small business owners attending the event.

"You are the dreamers and innovators who are powering us into the future -- that's exactly what you are -- and my administration will be there with you every single step of the way," he said.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the unemployment rate for June was 4.4 percent, one of the lowest rates of the past 10 years. The unemployment rate has been a steady decline since 2011, when the rate hovered around 9 percent for nearly the entire year.

Although the official unemployment has fallen to 4.4 percent, the U-6 rate, which includes the unemployed "plus all persons marginally attached to the labor force, plus total employed part time for economic reasons, as a percent of the civilian labor force" was at 8.6 percent in June.