President Donald Trump has made it clear that economic growth will be the most important measuring stick of his presidency. The state of the economy – and how it might fare during his presidency - was center stage in his joint address to Congress on Tuesday. Trump wildly over-inflated the numbers of Americans who don't have jobs (mixing retired or college students in with those who are unemployed, for instance) and promised to put millions back to work.

But the laser focus on economic growth and unemployment raises an important question at a time when the economy is actually near full employment by historical standards: is the White House considering an effort to change the way in which economic data is described to the American public (so that actions are perceived differently by voters)? Given the recent news that White House aides have considered future economic growth forecasts outside the mainstream, it's an open question with no clear answer yet.

White House press secretary Sean Spicer refused to answer a question about the current unemployment rate at his first formal media briefing. Why? Perhaps because his boss believes that unemployment data reporting is "fiction" – and that the administration should change the way in which economic data is communicated to the public.

Trump "sees that people (are) hurting," Spicer said. The unemployment rate is "not just a number" to him. Trump is "not focused on statistics" but whether "people are…better off."

While it's certainly true that BLS does look at different sets of economic data and the types of people who are unemployed and available to work each month, it also has established a baseline unemployment rate. It's 4.8 percent right now. That's the number the White House press secretary zigzagged around.

A snapshot of the current state of the American economy looks like this: From July to September in 2016, the economy expanded at a 3.5 percent rate. That's the fastest expansion of the economy in the past two years. The Federal Reserve, which tracks the health of the American economy closely in order to make critical decisions affecting monetary policy, is so confident in the current pace of economic growth that it recently raised interest rates for just the second time in a decade.

In 2015, income for a typical American household rose more than 5 percent to an inflation-adjusted $56,516 - which the Census Bureau says is the largest annual growth in nearly five decades – while average hourly pay rose in 2016 at the fastest pace in seven years, Business Insider has reported.

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All of these facts – BLS statistics on the unemployment rate, the growth and resiliency of the American economy right now, key decisions made by the Federal Reserve – conspire against Trump at the start of his presidency on the central issue that will define him.

The reason the White House spokesman had to duck the question entirely is because an unemployment rate of 4.8 percent is close to a nine-year low - and is essentially at a level that economists consider full employment. Jobs have increased every month for a record 75 months in a row. The president, however, clearly doesn't believe this.

"The jobs left, and the factories closed ... the wealth, strength and confidence of our country has disappeared over the horizon," the president said in his inaugural address, while also describing an "American carnage" in diverse urban areas that has "robbed our country of so much potential."

Every fact-checking team at major media outlets immediately called out the president on his claims. "The American economy is a lot healthier than the wreck Trump describes," reported the Associated Press.

But this may not stop Trump from creating a new set of facts around the unemployment rate. The reason is simple. He has staked his presidency on job growth. If he's measured against the real rate of 4.8 percent right now, he loses. If it's measured against a different rate at the start of his administration – one that's closer to the 40 percent rate he's said in the past that he believes is more accurate – he wins.

Trump has already begun to lay the groundwork for an alternative set of facts on the unemployment rate, jobs data and the state of the economy. At an Iowa rally in December, a month after he'd been elected president, he called the unemployment rate "totally fiction."

Political commentators have argued that Trump simply doesn't understand how unemployment rates are calculated. But they're wrong. He almost certainly understands. The problem, for the White House, is that the current facts about unemployment and jobs don't support the story he has to sell to the American public. He needs an alternative set of facts, and will almost certainly order the Labor Department and others to fall in line.

During his campaign, Trump said that the unemployment rate was really 42 percent because there were millions of people who were not being counted as part of the labor force and should be included in the rate. For this reason, Trump argued, nearly 4 out of every 10 American adults are unemployed.

What Trump has argued – and may enforce at the various branches of the federal government responsible for establishing underlying employment data – is akin to what he has argued about illegal voters for weeks. The president has doubled down by calling for a "massive investigation" into non-existent voter fraud. He believes millions of illegal immigrants voted in the presidential election and cost him the popular vote – which simply isn't true. He repeated that falsehood again during meetings with congressional leaders shortly after he took office. Trump also believes there are millions of people who are really unemployed, and that economists and the media are conspiring in an effort not to count them.

In order to win, the president needs an alternative set of facts if he is to convince the public of the "American carnage" that he will soon reverse. He needs a different story in order to convince the public that he can create jobs and economic prosperity. If progress is compared against the actual 4.8 percent unemployment rate, he loses.