The Labor Department on Tuesday published the preliminary estimate of its annual benchmark revision to nonfarm payrolls, which showed the U.S. economy added significantly fewer jobs than previously reported.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) published its first estimate of the annual benchmark revision, which lowered its estimate of employment by about 911,000 jobs over the April 2024 to March 2025 period.
BLS goes through the benchmarking process each year to incorporate more accurate data from state unemployment records that are published quarterly along with business birth and death records into its estimates.
The process yields a more complete and accurate picture of the labor market than the agency's monthly surveys that are used to create the jobs report, and serves as a means of mitigating the non-response and reporting errors that accumulate month-to-month.
The BLS' benchmark revision reflects how much those monthly jobs reports overstated or understated actual job growth from April 2024 to March 2025.
The data released Tuesday serves as a preliminary estimate of the benchmark revision, while the final benchmark revision will be incorporated into the BLS' January 2026 jobs report to be released in February next year.