--- title: Bernie Sanders Raised $16M From the Unemployed, Retired description: $16 million came from individual donors who said they were without jobs canonical: https://time.com/4231557/bernie-sanders-raised-16-million-from-the-unemployed-retired/ author: TIME article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-02-20T20:05:24.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T15:14:43.672Z article:section: Politics og:title: Bernie Sanders Raised $16M From the Unemployed, Retired og:description: $16 million came from individual donors who said they were without jobs og:url: https://time.com/4231557/bernie-sanders-raised-16-million-from-the-unemployed-retired/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltdb3af1b6a06341d9/69887e62ab6d7795246a883b/bernie-sanders14.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Presidential Candidate Bernie Sanders Speaks At Las Vegas Campaign Concert And Rally og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Bernie Sanders Raised $16M From the Unemployed, Retired twitter:description: $16 million came from individual donors who said they were without jobs twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltdb3af1b6a06341d9/69887e62ab6d7795246a883b/bernie-sanders14.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Bernie Sanders Raised $16 Million From the Unemployed, Retired by [Chris Matthews / Fortune](https://time.com/author/fortune/) ## Chris Matthews / Fortune Fortune Feb 20, 2016 8:05 PM UTC  Bernie Sanders during a campaign concert and rally in Henderson, Nevada, on Feb. 19, 2016. Bernie Sanders during a campaign concert and rally in Henderson, Nevada, on Feb. 19, 2016.Andrew Harrer—Bloomberg/Getty Images by [Chris Matthews / Fortune](https://time.com/author/fortune/) ## Chris Matthews / Fortune Fortune Feb 20, 2016 8:05 PM UTC One of Bernie Sanders talking points on the campaign trail is that [the “real” unemployment rate](https://berniesanders.com/real-unemployment-above-10-percent-low-wage-workers-hardest-hit/) is much higher than the official 4.9% cited by the Labor Department, and he should know. That’s because Sander’s biggest source of fundraising support comes from the retired or unemployed, according to filings with the Federal Election Commission, as reported by [Bloomberg.](http://www.bloomberg.com/politics/articles/2016-02-19/sanders-raised-16-million-from-the-unemployed-and-retired) $16 million of the $73 million the candidate raised in 2015 came from individual donors who said they were without jobs, according to the report. This group of people has good reason to support the Vermont Senator. [He is proposing](https://berniesanders.com/issues/strengthen-and-expand-social-security/) to expand Social Security, to the tune of $65 more per month on average, financed by raising payroll taxes on wealthy wage earnings.[He’s also vowed](https://berniesanders.com/issues/creating-jobs-rebuilding-america/) to get the unemployed working again through a $1 trillion infrastructure plan the campaign says will create 13 million “good-paying” jobs. The Sanders campaign has made much of the fact that almost two-thirds of its contributions have come from small donations of $200 or less. _Fortune_ has reached out to the Sanders campaign for comment and will update the piece if it responds. [_This article originally appeared on Fortune.com_](http://fortune.com/2016/02/19/bernie-sanders-unemployed/) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4231557/bernie-sanders-raised-16-million-from-the-unemployed-retired/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4231557/bernie-sanders-raised-16-million-from-the-unemployed-retired/"},"headline":"Bernie Sanders Raised $16 Million From the Unemployed, Retired","datePublished":"2016-02-20T20:05:24.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T15:14:43.672Z","description":"$16 million came from individual donors who said they were without jobs","url":"https://time.com/4231557/bernie-sanders-raised-16-million-from-the-unemployed-retired/","keywords":["Bernie Sanders"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltdb3af1b6a06341d9/69887e62ab6d7795246a883b/bernie-sanders14.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Chris Matthews / Fortune"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltdb3af1b6a06341d9/69887e62ab6d7795246a883b/bernie-sanders14.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Presidential Candidate Bernie Sanders Speaks At Las Vegas Campaign Concert And Rally","caption":"Presidential Candidate Bernie Sanders Speaks At Las Vegas Campaign Concert And Rally","creditText":"Andrew Harrer—Bloomberg/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/bernie-sanders/","name":"Bernie Sanders"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4231557/bernie-sanders-raised-16-million-from-the-unemployed-retired/","name":"Bernie Sanders Raised $16 Million From the Unemployed, Retired"}}]}] ```