(New federal economic data showed that previous data significantly overestimated the health of the U.S. economy.
The Department of Labor released revised jobs data that showed they overestimated the number of jobs created in the U.S. economy by 818,000, a whopping revision that set off alarm bells Wednesday.
“That equates to 68,000 fewer jobs per month than initially touted—and includes 115,000 fewer manufacturing jobs, 104,000 fewer trade, transportation, and utility jobs, and 45,000 fewer construction jobs,” noted Jake Schneider, rapid response director for the Republican National Committee, in a press release.
Economic numbers during the Biden administration have often been revised downward following the release of the projected figures, but the size of this change was large enough to raise eyebrows. It marked the largest downward adjustment since early in the Obama administration, at the peak of the Great Recession triggered by a 2008 banking collapse.
Left-wing analysts nonetheless sought to spin it in a favorable light to avoid dispelling the narrative of a so-called soft landing from the Federal Reserve’s efforts to stave off spiraling inflation.
“Even this number is shocking, job growth is still positive,” claimed Jamie Cox, managing partner for Harris Financial Group in Richmond, Va., in a statement.
Cox hinted that the higher unemployment further made the case for a rate cut before the November election, which Democrats hope will put money back into consumers’ pockets and generate goodwill for the incumbent administration at the ballot box—despite three and a half years of enduring the worse economic conditions in four decades.
“If you are in the rate cut in September camp, these data all but seal the deal on what Fed needed to cut rates,” said Cox, who has made at least one prior donation of $2,800 to leftist Virginia gubernatorial candidate Abigail Spanberger.
The new job creation numbers were nearly a third lower than the previous figure. The numbers come amid scrutiny of the economic record of Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic presidential pick, whose administration oversaw a massive spike in inflation that began less than two months after assuming office.
To address inflation, the Fed hiked interest rates, and those rates have increased significantly in recent years. However the Fed relies on federal jobs data to make those decisions.
The Biden administration, meanwhile, used its open-border polices and federal spending to artificially bolster the job totals—as well, apparently, as outright falsehoods.
“Illegal aliens, meanwhile, are still thriving, with 1.2 million native-born Americans losing employment over the last year as 1.3 million foreign-born workers found jobs,” wrote Schneider in the RNC response.
With higher unemployment needed to spur the Fed’s rate cuts, Democrat officials recently cut the flow of illegal immigrants drastically.
However, economists are concerned that the unreliable data from the Labor Department could be so far off that it will impede the Fed’s ability to make an informed decision.
“THE DATA DEPENDENT FED IS FLYING BLIND — UNRELIABLE DATA,” Steve Hanke, a Johns Hopkins University professor of applied economics, posted on X.
BREAKING: US Dept of Labor made a 28% downward revision of employment for the past year — a WHOPPING 818,000 reduction.
No surprise. The money stock (M2) is now lower than it was in July 2022.
THE DATA DEPENDENT FED IS FLYING BLIND — UNRELIABLE DATA.https://t.co/1tdoU5mCK8
— Steve Hanke (@steve_hanke) August 21, 2024
The revision drew widespread outrage. The Washington Post called it a “big fix” to the jobs data, and the Wall Street Journal reported that the job market was weaker than previously reported.
“It’s troubling to see the Dept. of Labor issue an unusually large correction to last year’s jobs report,” Rep. Adrian Smith, R-Neb., wrote on X. “As unemployment rises, American workers need pro-growth action, not the stale policies of the Biden-Harris admin.”
It’s troubling to see the Dept. of Labor issue an unusually large correction to last year’s jobs report. As unemployment rises, American workers need pro-growth action, not the stale policies of the Biden-Harris admin.https://t.co/0ICa7OZDNs
— Rep. Adrian Smith (@RepAdrianSmith) August 21, 2024
Former President Donald Trump blasted the Biden administration, calling it a “massive scandal.”
“The Harris-Biden Administration has been caught fraudulently manipulating Job Statistics to hide the true extent of the Economic Ruin they have inflicted upon America,” Trump said in a statement.
“New Data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics shows that the Administration PADDED THE NUMBERS with an extra 818,000 Jobs that DO NOT EXIST, AND NEVER DID,” he continued. “The real Numbers are much worse than that and, if Comrade Kamala gets another four years, millions more Jobs will VANISH overnight, and Inflation will completely destroy our Country.”
Headline USA’s Ben Sellers contributed to this report.
