Let’s dive into a topic that’s been making waves lately: the job market under the Biden administration, often referred to as "Bidenomics." Now, if you’ve been following the news, you might have heard about some impressive job growth numbers touted by the administration. But hold on, because there’s a twist to this story that you won’t want to miss.
Recently, the U.S. Labor Department dropped a bit of a bombshell. They revised their job figures for the past 12 months, and guess what? The job market wasn’t as hot as we were led to believe. In fact, the numbers were revised down by a whopping 818,000 jobs! That’s right, folks—818,000 fewer jobs than initially reported. This isn’t just a minor adjustment; it’s the largest downward revision in the last 15 years, something we haven’t seen since the fallout from the Great Recession.
BREAKING: 818,000 jobs that the Biden-Harris admin claims to have created have just been wiped off the books.
This is the largest downward revision in jobs in 15 years!!
All job growth has gone to illegals and immigrants. Trump was right once again. pic.twitter.com/flEZxHNqgb
— Charlie Kirk (@charliekirk11) August 21, 2024
Now, let’s break this down a bit. The original reports had everyone believing that the U.S. economy was adding about 246,000 jobs per month. That’s a healthy number, right? But after the revision, it turns out we were only averaging around 178,000 jobs per month. That’s quite a difference, and it raises some serious questions about how these numbers are reported and why they’re being revised so drastically after the fact.
You might be wondering, “What does this mean for the economy and for everyday Americans?” Well, for starters, these revisions could change the narrative about how well the job market is actually doing. Vice President Kamala Harris has been highlighting job growth as a key achievement of the Biden administration, especially as she campaigns for another term in the White House. But with these new figures, those claims of a booming job market might not hold up as strongly.
Layoffs, layoffs, everywhere, but not a claim to file?
At this point, there's no good explanation left for what's going on w/ UI claims, either initial or continuing; not only is nothing matching up anymore, but the rock-solid steadiness of these levels makes even less sense: pic.twitter.com/6OVVVPskSs— E.J. Antoni, Ph.D. (@RealEJAntoni) May 2, 2024
And it’s not just about political points. Investors and traders keep a close eye on these numbers too. Surprisingly, the markets didn’t react too dramatically to this news, even though they were expecting a revision—but not one this big! It’s worth noting that a full adjustment to the official job numbers won’t come until February next year, so we’re likely to hear more about this as we get closer to that date.
On the campaign trail, there’s been a lot of comparison between the Biden-Harris administration and the Trump presidency, especially regarding job creation. The last year of Trump’s term was marked by the COVID-19 pandemic, which wreaked havoc on the global economy. Millions of jobs were lost, but many of those were recovered by the end of the year. The Biden administration, on the other hand, has seen the number of available jobs hit an all-time high, but these recent revisions put a dent in the narrative of uninterrupted growth.
Finally, let’s talk about what might happen next. All eyes are on the Federal Reserve and its chairman, Jerome Powell. There’s speculation about whether they’ll lower interest rates, a move that could have big implications for the economy. Some, like Senator Elizabeth Warren, argue that it’s necessary, while others, including former President Trump, suggest that it could be seen as political maneuvering.