
Data shows a healthy US job market. Trump disagrees — and blames Biden
CNN
By many measures, America’s job market looks to be in good shape: In January, unemployment was at a historically low 4% as employers continued the second-longest streak of job growth in US history, according to fresh government data out Friday.
By many measures, America’s job market looks to be in good shape: In January, unemployment was at a historically low 4% as employers continued the second-longest streak of job growth in US history, according to fresh government data out Friday. The Trump administration, however, had a more pessimistic view, pointing to an annual benchmark revision released Friday showing there were 589,000 fewer jobs added to the economy in 2024 than previously tallied. “The benchmark told us that the downward revisions for the Biden job record were about cumulatively a whole million people, so we had a million fewer workers in the US than the (Bureau of Labor Statistics) told us right before the election than we actually had,” Kevin Hassett, director of the White House’s National Economic Council, told CNN’s Kate Bolduan Friday. “The jobs market is way worse than we thought,” he said. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt echoed that sentiment in a statement: “Today’s jobs report reveals the Biden economy was far worse than anyone thought, and underscores the necessity of President Trump’s pro-growth policies.” But the annual revision is a routine review of the surveys that generate monthly employment data, which are then reconciled with estimates from other statistical sources that weren’t available when the numbers were first reported.