Monday, Nov. 4, 2024
Was the Biden administration’s revision of a jobs report fraud?
The government revises job numbers annually as more information becomes available.
Former President Donald Trump falsely stated in Milwaukee that the Biden administration “fraudulently claimed” to have created 818,000 jobs.
The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics announced Aug. 21, 2024, “in accordance with usual practice,” its estimate of the annual “benchmark revision” of jobs numbers. The revision will occur in February 2025.
The estimate said the number of jobs added in the year ending March 31, 2024, was 818,000 fewer than had been previously shown in monthly reports.
Monthly figures come from employer surveys; the annual revision comes from unemployment records.
“Economists across the ideological spectrum” said the revision was not manipulation, PolitiFact reported.
The revision of 0.5% was higher than the 0.1% average and the highest since 2009.
Under Trump, there was a 0.3% downward adjustment of 514,000 jobs for the year ending March 31, 2019.
This fact brief is responsive to conversations such as this one.
Sources
- Forbes Breaking News Trump Unleashes Attacks On Kamala Harris At Campaign Rally In Milwaukee, Wisconsin
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CES Preliminary Benchmark Announcement
- Economic Policy Innovation Center Why Did the Bureau of Labor Statistics Just Cut Its Employment Estimates by 818,000 Jobs? - EPIC for America
- PolitiFact Donald Trump’s Pants on Fire claim that Biden, Harris manipulated job data
- Conference Board Payroll Revisions Could Cut 800,000 from Jobs Gains, or Not
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics BLS Establishment Survey National Estimates Revised to Incorporate March 2019 Benchmarks
- Politico US job totals will likely be revised down by 818,000 as Trump cries fraud - POLITICO
- SanTander Corporate Investment & Banking A primer on the benchmark payroll revision
About fact briefs
Fact briefs are bite-sized, well-sourced explanations that offer clear "yes" or "no" answers to questions, confusions, and unsupported claims circulating online. They rely on publicly available data and documents, often from the original source. Fact briefs are written and published by Gigafact contributor publications.
See all fact briefs
Wisconsin Watch, the news arm of the nonpartisan, nonprofit Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism, increases the quality and quantity of investigative reporting in Wisconsin, while training current and future investigative journalists. Its work fosters an informed citizenry and strengthens democracy.
Learn MoreLatest Fact Briefs
Did Wisconsin Supreme Court candidate Brad Schimel try to repeal the Affordable Care Act?
Thursday, Feb. 6, 2025