US created 911,000 fewer jobs through March 2025 than initially reported

Core Insights - The US labor market has shown significant revisions, with 911,000 fewer jobs added than initially estimated for the year ending March 2025, raising concerns about its health [1] - The unemployment rate has increased to 4.3%, the highest since 2021, following a weak jobs report for August that added only 22,000 jobs [2] Job Revisions - The revisions are 50% higher than last year's adjustments and fall within the higher end of Wall Street estimates, which ranged from 600,000 to 1 million [1] - The largest job losses were recorded in leisure and hospitality (down 176,000), professional and business services (down 158,000), and retail trade (down 126,200), with government jobs adjusted down by 31,000 [5] Economic Context - The revisions are attributed to businesses taking longer to respond to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) surveys during periods of economic change, such as the introduction of tariffs and the impact of AI [3] - Annual revisions incorporate slow, administrative data to ensure monthly estimates reflect broad labor-market trends [4] Political Reactions - The revisions have sparked political controversy, with President Trump expressing dissatisfaction and alleging political manipulation, despite the revisions being part of a regular process to update employment counts [6][7]