The U.S. labor market isn’t as strong as once believed. A preliminary report released Tuesday by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) revealed that job growth through March was significantly overstated, with nearly 911,000 fewer jobs than originally reported.
If upheld in the agency’s final benchmark revision, due in February 2026, this would mark the steepest downward correction in U.S. employment records.
The news comes as the BLS faces mounting turmoil. Just last month, former commissioner Erika McEntarfer was abruptly dismissed by President Donald Trump, who alleged—without providing evidence—that she manipulated July’s jobs report. Trump’s allies seized on Tuesday’s sharp revision as further proof that the bureau is in disarray.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt argued the revision validated Trump’s criticisms of both the Biden-era economy and the BLS itself. “This is exactly why we need new leadership to restore trust and confidence in the jobs data,” she said, also calling for Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell to slash interest rates.
For years, the BLS has warned of being underfunded and short-staffed, limiting its ability to modernize data collection and analysis. Now, Trump officials are pushing an internal review of the bureau’s practices, with a report expected to deliver sharp criticism.
The annual benchmark revision process, which has been in place for nearly 90 years, attempts to reconcile faster survey-based estimates with more complete—but slower—tax data from employers. This year’s preliminary revision of -911,000 jobs equals about 0.6% of total U.S. employment, far higher than the 0.2% average seen over the past decade. Spread across the year ending in March, that would cut average monthly job growth nearly in half, from 146,500 to around 70,500.
Economists point to several factors behind the sharp adjustment: flaws in the “birth-death model” that estimates new business formation, weak survey participation, and disruptions lingering from the pandemic. Industries seeing the biggest hits include trade, transportation, and utilities (down 226,000 jobs) as well as the information sector, which faces a 2.3% downward revision.
Federal data revisions are nothing new, but the scale of this correction—paired with the political attacks on the BLS—has rattled economists. Critics warn that undermining trust in federal statistics could damage financial markets, policymaking, and public confidence.
The turmoil has also raised questions about the bureau’s future. Staffing has fallen 20% since early 2024, with a third of leadership roles unfilled. Former commissioner Erica Groshen warned that ongoing cuts and hiring freezes are forcing the agency to scale back data collection at a time when modernization is badly needed.
“The BLS has been running on fumes for years,” Groshen said. “Without reinvestment, the nation’s most important economic data is at real risk.”
