American employers added much less jobs in 2024 and early 2025 of what was previously thought, indicating that the labor market may have been significantly weaker than the initial estimates suggested.
The US economy added 911,000 less jobs during the 12 months ending in March of what was estimated above, the United States Labor Statistics Office (BLS) said on Tuesday. The figure, which exceeded the expectations of economists, seems to be the greatest revision ever registered. The preliminary estimate will end next year.
The review, a routine step in the compilation of government labor statistics, evaluates the monthly estimates of the survey together with state unemployment data. The new data occurs weeks after President Donald Trump dismissed the Bls Commissioner Erika Mtntarfer in response to a weak monthly job report. Trump said without evidence that Mtientefer had manipulated statistics for political reasons.
In a statement on Tuesday, the White House Secretary, Karoline Leavitt, said that the unusually large review showed doubts about the legitimacy of the BLS. Leavitt also seemed to grant credit to the data, citing it as evidence of a weak economy under President Joe Biden.
“Today, the BLS published the greatest descending review in a registry that shows that President Trump was right: Biden’s economy was a disaster and the BLS is broken. This is exactly the reason why we need a new leadership to restore confidence and confidence in BLS data in the name of financial markets, companies, policies and families that depend on this data to make important decisions,” Leavitt said.
The scale of the review announced on Tuesday exceeds a decrease in the decline in hiring estimates last year that has received criticism from Trump in recent weeks.
In that case, the BLS said in August 2024 that US employers had hired 818,000 workers less for a previous year. When Trump dismissed Mcentofer last month after the publication of monthly job data, he mentioned frustration with the annual review issued in 2024.
“I think the numbers were false as before the elections, and there were other times,” Trump said, pointing out the review in job numbers last year he said, without evidence, it was an attempt to benefit the Democrats who were going to the elections.
President Donald Trump speaks during a meeting on religious freedom in education at the Bible Museum in Washington, on September 8, 2025.
Saul Loeb/AFP through Getty Images
The BLS, a government agency within the Labor Department, tracks a series of key economic indicators, including widely expected hiring and inflation reports published each month.
The BLS publishes an initial estimate of its job report based on an initial data stretch, but the agency often checks the figure in the months later as homes and companies return additional data. After a slow movement process to compile state unemployment data, the agency releases an additional review that causes precise findings.
Mtientefer, a Biden designated one who was confirmed by the Senate in 2024, had served in the federal government for two decades.
“It has been the honor of my life to serve as a BLS commissioner along with the many dedicated officials in charge of measuring a vast and dynamic economy,” said Mcentofer in a publication on social networks after his dismissal. “It is a vital and important work and I thank your service to this nation.”
William Beach, a former commissioner of the Office of Labor Statistics, who was appointed by Trump, condemned the dismissal of Mtientefer.
“The totally fundamental dismissal of Dr. Erika Mcentofer, my successor as Commissioner of Labor Statistics in BLS, establishes a dangerous precedent and undermines the statistical mission of the office,” Beach published in X.
Mtientefer did not respond to a request for previous ABC ABC comments.
