US Labour Data Revised Downward by 1 Million Jobs in Historic Correction
On February 11, the BLS erased over 1 million jobs from 2025 records in a historic downward revision. The correction revealed that the US added only 181,000 jobs last year - averaging just 15,000 monthly - marking the weakest growth since 2003. Despite the "stagnant" 2025 data, January 2026 saw a surprise rebound with 130,000 new hires.
Mumbai, February 16: The US Bureau of Labour Statistics (BLS) issued a massive correction to its national employment data on Wednesday, February 11, revealing that job growth over the past year was significantly weaker than initially reported. According to the annual benchmark revision, total nonfarm payrolls for the period ending in March 2025 were revised downward by 8,98,000 jobs.
When combined with additional corrections for late 2024, the government has essentially erased more than one million jobs from its previous estimates, marking the largest annual downward revision in decades. AI Will Create Jobs, Not Steal Them and India Ready To Lead As ‘Agent of Change’: Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal.
A 'Stagnant' Year for Hiring in the US
The revised figures reshape the narrative of the 2025 labour market, which was originally thought to be cooling but stable. The updated data shows that the US economy added just 181,000 jobs in all of 2025 - averaging a meagre 15,000 per month - compared to the initial estimate of 584,000. Excluding the 2020 pandemic and the 2008 financial crisis, 2025 now stands as the weakest year for American job creation since 2003. Economists noted that job growth was almost entirely propped up by the healthcare and social assistance sectors, while manufacturing, retail, and professional services experienced net losses or flat growth.
Factors Behind the Discrepancy
Bureau officials attributed the scale of the revision to several factors that complicated initial survey-based estimates:
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Survey Response Rates: Declining participation from businesses in monthly surveys led to less accurate preliminary reports.
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Birth-Death Modelling: The government’s model for estimating jobs at new businesses (births) versus closed ones (deaths) struggled to capture the rapid shifts in a high-interest-rate environment.
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Immigration Shifts: Significant changes in labour force entry patterns throughout 2025 further distorted the initial establishment survey data.
Political and Economic Fallout
The revision has immediately become a flashpoint in Washington. The Trump administration, which took office just weeks before the report, has pointed to the data as evidence of an "overstated" and "fragile" economy inherited from the previous term. The White House has used the report to justify ongoing efforts to downsize the federal workforce, which saw a decline of 34,000 jobs in January alone.
For the Federal Reserve, the data present a complex puzzle. While the job numbers suggest a "freeze" in hiring, the unemployment rate remains relatively low at 4.3 per cent. This paradox is partly explained by a simultaneous decrease in the number of people entering the workforce, meaning the economy requires fewer new jobs to keep the jobless rate from rising. AI To Replace White-Collar Jobs: Microsoft AI Chief Mustafa Suleyman Predicts Job Automation Within 12 to 18 Months.
January 2026: A Potential Rebound?
Despite the grim retrospective, the most recent monthly data offer a glimmer of hope. The same report showed that US employers added 130,000 jobs in January 2026, nearly double what many economists had forecasted. While analysts warn that these numbers are also subject to future revisions, the uptick in construction and healthcare hiring suggests the labour market may be stabilising after a nearly stagnant 2025.
(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Feb 16, 2026 07:49 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).