Kansas Senator Roger Marshall is demanding testimony from the director of the Bureau of Labor Statistics on the review of the massive jobs report released in August.
Last month, the BLS announced that 818,000 fewer jobs were actually added to the economy during the 12 months ending in March than it initially reported, marking the largest such downward revision since 2009.
In other words, job growth was about 28% lower than initially reported.
“This drastic downward revision of jobs is unacceptable and the BLS must be held accountable for this error,” Marshall wrote in a Thursday letter to Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), who chairs the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee.
The Republican, who sits on the Senate HELP Committee, demanded that Sanders seek testimony from BLS Commissioner Erika McEntarfer.
“The Committee should have the opportunity to question Commissioner McEntarfer directly about why such a key labor market indicator was reported incorrectly over the past year, as well as what actions she and the Office are taking to rectify this situation going forward,” he argued.
The Senate HELP Committee has jurisdiction over labor statistics.
Historically, the BLS makes revisions to its employment estimates as it accumulates 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 about why such a massive overhaul was necessary.
The senators stressed that the dubious original statistics that came to light led to favorable headlines that gave Americans a false impression about the state of the economy.
“Labor market reports are a tool used by economists, policymakers and business owners to help navigate changing economic conditions and signal future economic health,” Marshall added in his letter to Sanders.
“With just two months to go until the election, voters should have confidence in the agency charged with reporting on economic conditions.”
Before the August revision, the last time employment estimates had been this exaggerated was in 2009, when they were overstated by about 824,000.
In total, the BLS estimate In August, 2.1 million jobs were added to the U.S. economy during the 12-month period ending March 2024, up from the previously reported 2.9 million.
At the time, Republicans were quick to criticize the bill.
“MASSIVE SCANDAL! The Harris-Biden administration has been caught fraudulently manipulating labor statistics to hide the true extent of the economic ruin they have inflicted on America.” Former President Donald Trump was furious with Truth Social.
“New data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics shows that the Administration PADDED THE NUMBERS by an additional 818,000 jobs that DON’T EXIST, AND NEVER EXISTED.”
On Wednesday, Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell announced the first major rate cut since the COVID-19 pandemic.
As he had previously hinted, Powell opted to cut the rate in a big way, lowering his benchmark interest rate by no less than 50 basis points (half a percentage point) to a range between 4.75% and 5%, from 5.25% to 5.50%.
The move came amid signs of slowing inflation and persistent fears of a possible economic slowdown.
