Washington, D.C., USA – 10 September 2025
The U.S. labor market appears weaker than previously believed, as the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) announced a significant downward revision to job numbers, cutting the number of jobs created by over 900,000. This massive revision, the largest on record, has ignited a fresh debate over the true strength of the U.S. economy and the reliability of federal data.
A Massive Revision
According to the preliminary annual benchmark revision from the BLS, the U.S. economy created 911,000 fewer jobs between April 2024 and March 2025 than initially reported. This unprecedented downgrade revises the average monthly pace of job gains down from 147,000 to just over 70,000. The revision is larger than what many economists had expected and comes at a time of increasing concern about the health of the labor market. The unemployment rate also recently hit 4.3%, its highest level since 2021.
The downward revisions were concentrated in key sectors of the economy, including:
* Trade, transportation, and utilities, which saw a loss of 226,000 jobs.
* Leisure and hospitality, which shed 176,000 jobs.
* Professional and business services, which were revised down by 158,000 jobs.
* Retail trade, which lost 126,000 jobs.
The report highlights a broader economic slowdown, with many economists suggesting the new data could give the Federal Reserve more reason to consider cutting interest rates at its upcoming meeting.
Political and Economic Fallout
The dramatic revision has already become a political flashpoint. The administration has seized on the data to argue that the economy they inherited was weaker than previously understood and that their policies are a necessary course correction. The Secretary of Labor, Lori Chavez-DeRemer, stated that the revision gave the American people “more reason to doubt the integrity of data.”
Meanwhile, critics argue that the sheer size of the revision reflects a fundamental issue with the BLS’s outdated data collection methods, which they claim have consistently overstated job growth. While the BLS maintains that such revisions are a normal part of its process, the scale of this particular adjustment is unprecedented, casting doubt on the accuracy of the monthly jobs reports that are a foundation for both economic forecasts and major policy decisions.
