Senator Roger Marshall of Kansas has demanded testimony from the head of the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Monster Jobs Report Revision It was released in August.
Last month, the BLS announced that the economy actually added 818,000 fewer jobs during the 12 months ending in March than initially reported. The largest downward revision of its kind since 2009,
In other words, job growth was about 28% lower than initially reported.
“Such massive job cuts are unacceptable and the BLS must answer for this error,” Marshall wrote in a letter Thursday to Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), who chairs the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP).
Republicans who sit on the Senate HELP Committee demanded that Sanders seek testimony from BLS Commissioner Erica McEntire.
He argued, “The Committee should have the opportunity to ask Commissioner McEntire directly why such a key indicator of the job market was misreported over the past year, as well as what steps she and the Bureau are taking to rectify this situation.”
The Senate HELP Committee has jurisdiction over labor statistics.
Historically, the BLS revises its employment estimates as it receives more reliable data, but Marshall and others were surprised by how large the adjustment was in August.
Last month, Marshall and four other Republicans wrote a letter to the Labor Department demanding answers. Major revisions were necessary,
The senators stressed that the questionable underlying data that was released generated favorable headlines, giving Americans a false impression about the state of the economy.
“The Job Market Report is a tool used by economists, policymakers, and business owners to understand changing economic conditions and indicate future economic health,” Marshall said in his letter to Sanders.
“With only two months until the election, voters should have confidence in the agency reporting on the economic situation.”
Before the August revision, the last time the jobs estimate was this high was in 2009, when it was about 824,000 higher.
overall, BLS estimated According to the report released in August, the US economy added 2.1 million jobs during the 12-month period ending March 2024, while the number was previously reported to be 2.9 million.
The development was sharply criticized by Republicans at the time.
“A huge scam! The Harris-Biden administration has falsified jobs data to hide the true extent of the economic damage it has done to America.” Former President Donald Trump lashed out at Truth Social,
“New data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics show that the administration added 818,000 additional jobs to the data that do not actually exist, and never did.”
On Wednesday, Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said… First key rate announced Cuts have been made since the COVID-19 pandemic.
As he had previously signaled, Powell decided to cut interest rates substantially and cut his benchmark interest rate target by a whopping 50 basis points – dropping half a percentage point to a range of 4.75% to 5%, down from 5.25% to 5.50%.
This step has been taken in view of the signs of decline in inflation as well as fears of a possible economic recession.
