U.S. job growth in the year through March was much weaker than previously reported, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) revisions released on Tuesday.
The U.S. economy likely added 911,000 fewer jobs in the year ending in March — or an average of almost 76,000 fewer each month — according to the BLS’ preliminary benchmark revision. The report comes after job growth slowed in August, with the U.S. economy adding just 22,000 nonfarm payroll jobs, according to data released Friday by BLS.
The jobs report revisions were even worse than the downward adjustment of 700,000 that was previously projected, Axios reported on Tuesday. The BLS’ final benchmark revision will be released in February 2026.
The revisions come after President Donald Trump fired BLS Commissioner Erika McEntarfer on Aug. 11 after the release of a lackluster July jobs report, alleging she had “faked the Jobs Numbers” ahead of the 2024 presidential election in an effort to “boost” former Vice President Kamala Harris’ “chances of victory.” Trump announced Aug. 11 that he had tapped conservative economist Dr. E.J. Antoni to replace McEntarfer as the next BLS commissioner.
“BLS’s massive downward revision of last year’s jobs numbers confirms what Main Street has long known: The Biden labor market was far softer than topline numbers indicated,” Alfredo Ortiz, CEO of Job Creators Network, said in a statement provided to the Daily Caller News Foundation. “President Trump inherited a weak labor market, which the Federal Reserve has kept stagnant through artificially high interest rates.”
“Lower interest rates, combined with Trump’s policies of tax cuts, deregulation, and pro-energy initiatives, will jumpstart the economy in the months to come,” Ortiz added. “New JCN polling finds that nearly all small businesses plan to use their tax cut savings to expand, hire, raise wages, or invest in their communities. This massive revision also proves Trump correct in replacing the head of the BLS with Heritage Foundation economist E.J. Antoni. It gives new urgency to his confirmation to fix the mess at the BLS.”
Secretary of Labor Lori Chavez-DeRemer said in a Tuesday statement that the downward revision in job gains “gives the American people even more reason to doubt the integrity of data being published by BLS.”
“Today’s massive downward revision gives the American people even more reason to doubt the integrity of data being published by BLS,” Chavez-DeRemer said. “Considering these reports are the foundation of economic forecasts and major policy decisions, there is no room for such a significant and consistent amount of error. It’s imperative for the data to remain accurate, impartial, and never altered for political gain.”
“Leaders at the bureau failed to improve their practices during the Biden administration, utilizing outdated methods that rendered a once reliable system completely ineffective and calling into question the motivation behind their inaction,” Chavez-DeRemer continued. “The Trump Administration is putting a stop to years of neglect. We are committed to finding solutions to these problems, including by modernizing to improve transparency and deliver more accurate and timely data for American businesses and workers.”
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