The U.S. economy had a pretty strong year in terms of adding jobs in the year leading up through March 2024.
Just not as good a year as initially reported.
The U.S. Department of Labor reported Wednesday the economy added some 818,000 fewer jobs than originally reported during the period from April 2023 through March 2024.
Labor Department estimated job growth averaged 174,000 a month in that year, which is some 68,000 fewer than the 242,000 initially reported. The revisions are preliminary; the final numbers are set to be released in February.
That’s two pieces of bad jobs news in a row for the U.S., following a worse-than-expected jobs report for July, when some 114,000 jobs were added.
The Associated Press reported that economists are suggesting the Federal Reserve has waited too long to cut prime interest rates. The Fed raised rates 11 times in 2022 and 2023 to fight inflation, which hit 9.2 in June 2022.
Year-over-year inflation has since fallen to 2.9%, last month, leading to speculation a rate cut could come as soon as mid-September.
The unemployment rate rose for the fourth straight month, though its still historically low at 4.3%.
The revised hiring estimates released Wednesday are intended to better account for companies that are either being created or going out of business, according to the AP report.
“This doesn’t challenge the idea we’re still in an expansion, but it does signal we should expect monthly job growth to be more muted and put extra pressure on the Fed to cut rates,’’ Robert Frick, economist at the Navy Federal Credit Union, told the AP. In the revisions, new professional and business services jobs — a broad category that includes managers and technical workers — were reduced by 358,000 in the 12 months that ended in March. Leisure and hospitality employers — including hotels and restaurants — added 150,000 fewer than first reported.
