The U.S. economy added almost one million fewer jobs in the year leading up to March 2025 than previously reported, according to new data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).
The revision, the largest in the agency’s history, slashes job growth for that period by more than half, from 1.8 million to just 850,000.
The preliminary benchmark revision released Tuesday shows payrolls were overstated by 911,000 jobs, or 0.6 percent.
Instead of averaging 147,000 jobs a month, the economy was creating barely 70,000.
The downward revision spans nearly every major industry and most states.
Wholesale and retail trade led the shortfall, followed by hospitality, professional services, and manufacturing. Information jobs were cut by more than 2 percent, the steepest reduction in percentage terms.
The new data dramatically reshapes the picture of the economy at the start of President Donald Trump’s second term.
Far from inheriting a historically strong labor market, Trump stepped into office with an economy already weaker than the Biden administration claimed.
Biden officials repeatedly touted the numbers that have now been discredited.
In June 2024, top White House economist Jared Bernstein told The New York Times it was “beyond question that this is one of the strongest