U.S. Secretary of Labor Lori Chavez-DeRemer responded to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics’ (BLS) preliminary annual benchmark revision, which indicated a downward adjustment in nonfarm payroll data by 911,000 jobs for the 12 months ending March 2025. This revision is among the largest reductions reported in decades.
Chavez-DeRemer expressed concern about the reliability of BLS data following this substantial change. “Today’s massive downward revision gives the American people even more reason to doubt the integrity of data being published by BLS. Considering these reports are the foundation of economic forecasts and major policy decisions, there is no room for such a significant and consistent amount of error. It’s imperative for the data to remain accurate, impartial, and never altered for political gain.”
She criticized bureau leadership during the Biden administration for not updating their methods, stating that outdated practices had compromised a system previously regarded as dependable. “Leaders at the bureau failed to improve their practices during the Biden administration, utilizing outdated methods that rendered a once reliable system completely ineffective and calling into question the motivation behind their inaction. The Trump Administration is putting a stop to years of neglect. We are committed to finding solutions to these problems, including by modernizing to improve transparency and deliver more accurate and timely data for American businesses and workers.”
The annual benchmark revision process is a standard practice where BLS aligns its survey-based estimates with more complete data sources collected from employers, but large revisions can influence how policymakers and analysts view employment trends.
