President Donald Trump accused Dr. Erika McEntarfer, the commissioner of the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), of rigging the latest jobs report to make the Republicans and ME look bad. The revisions made to recent jobs reports were neither historic nor evidence of corruption. The BLS is an independently operated body within the US Department of Labor, established in 1884. It collects data on key economic concerns and produces critical reports on a regular basis.
The BLS collects jobs data through two separate surveys: the household survey provides demographic data and the unemployment rate, while the business survey provides data on pay, hours worked, and the number of jobs the US economy added or subtracted. The data is revised several times, including in each of the two months following the initial report, a preliminary annual revision in August, and a final annual revision in February.
Recent revisions for May and June were historically large but not unprecedented. The July report included revisions for May and June that were historically large but not unprecedented. The BLS tracks each month’s revisions dating back to 1979, but the BLS introduced a new probability-based sample design for revisions in 2003. Since 2003, the average monthly revision is only slightly more accurate 51,000 jobs.
Trump has also complained about a preliminary annual revision in August 2024, which showed the US economy had added 818,000 fewer jobs over the past year than previously reported. However, the difference between the initial and final annual revisions was due to information received in US tax returns.
