(NEW YORK) -- U.S. employers added far fewer jobs in 2024 and early 2025 than previously thought, indicating the labor market may have been significantly weaker than initial estimates had suggested.
The U.S. economy added 911,000 fewer jobs over the 12 months ending in March than previously estimated, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) said on Tuesday. The figure, which exceeded economists' expectations, appears to be the largest revision ever recorded. The preliminary estimate will be finalized next year.
The revision, a routine step in the compilation of government labor statistics, assesses monthly survey estimates alongside state unemployment data. The fresh data comes weeks after President Donald Trump fired BLS Commissioner Erika McEntarfer in response to a weak monthly jobs report. Trump claimed without evidence that McEntarfer had manipulated statistics for political reasons.
In a statement on Tuesday, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said the unusually large revision cast doubt on the legitimacy of the BLS. Leavitt also appeared to grant credence to the data, citing it as evidence of a weak economy under President Joe Biden.
"Today, the BLS released the largest downward revision on record proving that President Trump was right: Biden’s economy was a disaster and the BLS is broken. This is exactly why we need new leadership to restore trust and confidence in the BLS’s data on behalf of the financial markets, businesses, policymakers, and families that rely on this data to make major decisions," Leavitt said.
The scale of the revision announced on Tuesday exceeds a downward reduction in hiring estimates last year that has drawn criticism from Trump in recent weeks.
In that case, the BLS said in August 2024 that U.S. employers had hired 818,000 fewer workers over a previous year-long period. When Trump fired McEntarfer last month hours after the release of monthly jobs data, he mentioned frustration with the annual revision issued in 2024.
"I believe the numbers were phony just like they were before the election, and there were other times," Trump said, pointing to the revision in the jobs numbers last year that he claimed, without evidence, was an attempt to benefit Democrats heading into the election.
The BLS, a government agency within the Department of Labor, tracks a host of key economic indicators, including widely anticipated hiring and inflation reports released each month.
The BLS releases an initial estimate of its jobs report based on an initial tranche of data, but the agency often revises the figure in subsequent months as households and businesses return additional data. After a slow-moving process of compiling state unemployment data, the agency releases an additional revision teasing out accurate findings.
McEntarfer, a Biden appointee 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 Commissioner of BLS alongside the many dedicated civil servants tasked with measuring a vast and dynamic economy," McEntarfer said in a social media post after her dismissal. "It is vital and important work and I thank them for their service to this nation."
William Beach, a former commissioner of the Bureau of Labor Statistics, who was appointed by Trump, condemned McEntarfer's dismissal.
"The totally groundless firing of Dr. Erika McEntarfer, my successor as Commissioner of Labor Statistics at BLS, sets a dangerous precedent and undermines the statistical mission of the Bureau," Beach posted on X.
McEntarfer did not respond to an earlier ABC News request for comment.