The Labor Department on Tuesday released its preliminary annual benchmark revision to nonfarm payrolls, showing the U.S. economy added far fewer jobs than initially reported. The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) cut its employment estimate by about 911,000 jobs for the period between April 2024 and March 2025.
Each year, the BLS conducts a benchmarking process that incorporates more reliable data from quarterly state unemployment insurance records as well as business birth and death records.
The revisions provide a fuller and more accurate picture of the labor market than the agency’s monthly surveys, which are more susceptible to reporting errors and non-responses.
Trump inherited a mess. What an absolute scandal across the board. https://t.co/QqJXSA5Q1k
— Scott Jennings (@ScottJenningsKY) September 9, 2025
The BLS benchmark revision measures how much the monthly jobs reports either overstated or understated actual employment growth between April 2024 and March 2025.
Tuesday’s release represents a preliminary estimate; the final revision will be incorporated into the January 2026 jobs report, scheduled for release in February.
Of the 911,000-job downward adjustment, private payrolls accounted for 880,000, while government employment was revised down by 31,000.
Employment in trade, transportation, and utilities was revised downward by 226,000 jobs, driven by losses of 126,000 in retail trade and 110,000 in wholesale trade. Those declines were partially offset by gains of 6,600 jobs in transportation and warehousing and 3,700 in utilities.
Professional and business services shed 158,000 jobs in the revision, while job growth in the information sector was scaled back by 67,000 and financial activities by 39,000.
Manufacturing employment was cut by 95,000 jobs, construction by 29,000, and mining and logging by 4,000.
Private education and health services were revised down by 35,000 jobs, while the “other services” category saw a reduction of 51,000.
