Despite President Biden’s assertions during the 2024 campaign that the American economy was going gangbusters, the American labor market was significantly weaker than initially thought at the time, according to a new report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The BLS on Tuesday revised down its earlier report on job growth through March 2025 by a staggering 911,000 positions, according to a preliminary report. The revision, the largest on record since 2002, suggests that the economy under Mr. Biden was on far shakier footing than his administration’s hyped jobs numbers indicated.

“Today, the BLS released the largest downward revision on record, proving that President Trump was right: Biden’s economy was a disaster and the BLS is broken,” the White House press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, said in a statement. “This is exactly why we need new leadership to restore trust and confidence in the BLS’s data on behalf of the financial markets, businesses, policymakers, and families that rely on this data to make major decisions.”

The revised numbers also are increasing pressure on the Federal Reserve, with the White House adding that Chairman Jerome Powell “has officially run out of excuses and must cut the rates now.”

The revisions, which come after more comprehensive census and tax data and are a common occurrence with such data, paint a concerning picture of a deteriorating employment landscape. The adjustment means average monthly job growth was 76,000 less than initially reported, casting doubt on the narrative of a booming job market under the previous administration.

The downward revision adds to growing concerns about both the health of the economy and the reliability of the government’s data collection methods.

Economists are also sounding the alarm. “The BLS’s preliminary benchmark revisions to nonfarm payrolls show a much weaker labor market over most of 2024 and early 2025 than previously estimated,” a market economist at Nationwide Financial, Oren Klachkin, told CNBC.

“Importantly, the slower job creation implies income growth was also on a softer footing even prior to the recent rise in policy uncertainty and economic slowdown we’ve seen since the spring. This should give the Fed more impetus to restart its cutting cycle,” he said.

While the benchmark revisions cover a period up to a year and a half ago, more recent data have also pointed to a cooling labor market. The summer months of June, July, and August saw an average payroll gain of just 29,000 per month, falling far short of the level needed to keep the unemployment rate steady.

The job losses were widespread across the private sector. The largest downward revisions occurred in leisure and hospitality (-176,000), professional and business services (-158,000), and retail trade (-126,200). In contrast, government jobs were only adjusted down by 31,000.

The BLS has been under intense scrutiny from the White House, culminating in Mr. Trump’s firing of Commissioner Erika McEntarfer after a weak July jobs report.

The annual benchmark revisions are considered more accurate than the initial monthly reports because they are based on a near-complete count of jobs from the Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages, rather than just survey data. The numbers released Tuesday are still preliminary and will be finalized in February 2026. 

“The benchmark revisions make clear the economy President Trump inherited was even weaker than we thought,” the White House said in a statement. “Job growth was lackluster under Biden, with initial revisions from the last two years showing job growth was overstated by roughly 1.5 million workers — showing the Biden economy was propped up by illegal immigrants, poor data, government handouts, and a flood of federal spending.”