Senators Collins, Cassidy Seek Answers from BLS on Botched “Monthly Jobs Numbers”, Demand Accountability

Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senator Susan Collins, Vice Chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, and Bill Cassidy, M.D. (R-LA), ranking member of the Senate HELP Committee, are seeking answers from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) on its continued failures to produce accurate national jobs data, which has serious impacts on the American economy.  

“BLS’s inability to produce initially reliable data—especially when that data has broad market-moving implications and often is used as indicia of the strength or weakness of the American economy—is unacceptable,” wrote the senators. “Even more confounding is why BLS continues to conduct its business in the same manner month after month when its initial data release is so often flawed.” 

“BLS cannot continue to process and release data in the same manner it always has and expect a different outcome,” continued the senators. “Whether BLS needs to implement changes to how it collects data or to the timetable on which it releases the data it collects, it is clear that something must change so that those who make economic decisions based on the data BLS provides are able to do so with a reliable understanding of the actual facts on the ground.” 

Each month, BLS produces economic data showing national job gains and losses, changes in the unemployment rate, and the industries that were significantly impacted by the jobs numbers. For years, the agency has consistently produced unreliable employment data that is heavily revised weeks or months later.  

Under the Biden-Harris administration, BLS revised its monthly jobs data 43 times, and 53 percent of the time the revisions reflected less job growth than the initial reporting. The statistics were revised up or down by an average of 101,114 jobs per month. In August, BLS reported it dramatically overcounted job growth between March 2023 and March 2024, and revised its annual jobs numbers downward by a staggering 818,000 jobs. This was the largest revision to this annual data since 2009. 

Under the Trump administration, BLS revised its data up or down by an average of 73,681 jobs per month. A majority of these revisions, 57 percent, reflected higher job numbers and better economic data than BLS’s initial reporting.  

The complete text of the letter can be read here. 

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