U.S. job gains over the 12 months ending in March were revised downward Wednesday by 818,000 — a significant revision that adds to recent concerns that the economy has been slowing.
The change means that roughly 2.1 million jobs were created in the U.S. in the past year, compared with about 2.9 million prior to the revision. The new figures do not represent job losses — merely new estimates of how many jobs were actually created during the period in question.
“Even after these large downward revisions, the labor market looks to have been on solid footing,” Bank of America research analysts noted after the report’s release.
The data serves as additional evidence that a more significant downturn in the U.S. economy may be afoot. While the economy has grown steadily in recent quarters, often outpacing expectations, the unemployment rate recently climbed to a new post-pandemic high of 4.3% (the data revisions today do not impact measures of the unemployment rate). The share of American workers both employed and unemployed looking for new work rose to its highest level in a decade in July — even as hiring has largely ground to a halt.
In a statement, White House Chief Economic Adviser Jared Bernstein said the preliminary estimate “doesn’t change the fact that the jobs recovery has been and remains historically strong, delivering solid job and wage gains, strong consumer spending, and record small business creation.”
Wednesday’s update from the Bureau of Labor…
