The downward jobs revision delivered ‘a big blast against Bidenomics,’ ex-Trump economist says
Economists and experts have started to unpack what it may mean for the state of the U.S. economy after a historic jobs data revision on Wednesday.
"That is a big blast against Bidenomics," former Trump administration senior economic adviser Stephen Moore said on "Varney & Co." ahead of the revision. "There's something strange going on in these jobs reports… they keep revising these numbers down."
"The jobs revision today, I think is a big deal. And I think that's the reaction that you're seeing in job markets, because that's going to put more pressure on the Fed," Optimal Capital’s Frances Newton Stacy added on "Cavuto: Coast to Coast."
Signaling that U.S. job growth was actually weaker than previously reported, the Bureau of Labor Statistics revised down its total tally of jobs created in March by 818,000 as part of its preliminary annual benchmark review of payroll data.
It marks the largest downward revision since 2009, and suggests the labor market began losing steam earlier than initially thought.
The revised data is mostly derived from state unemployment tax records that employers are required to file. The figure may be updated when the government releases the final figure in February 2025.
"That's a giant revision. That is a giant error," Moore reacted. "Now, I am not accusing the Bureau of Labor Statistics for fudging the numbers. I just think there's something wrong in this modern age, the way that they're calculating the jobs."
"But, boy, if it's close to a million," he continued, "that means that the American economy has performed a lot weaker than we have been saying for the last couple of years."
Other economists are reportedly widely predicting that the Federal Reserve will cut rates at its next September meeting, and Newton Stacy argued it puts into question whether the central bank waited too long.
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"We're definitely anticipating a Fed cut, and that's because it's estimated that GDP is actually going to slow," she said. "We've had a record amount of time where we've had these elevated interest rates, and the fiscal spending has been holding us up, which we think is going to continue."
In response to Wednesday’s news, President Biden’s White House Council of Economic Advisers Chair Jared Bernstein said in a statement to FOX Business that "this preliminary estimate doesn’t change the fact that the jobs recovery has been and remains historically strong, delivering solid job and wage gains, strong consumer spending, and record small business creation."
FOX Business’ Megan Henney contributed to this report.