The updated employment figures mean the economy created an average of 173,000 jobs a month during the period in question instead of 242,000 under the old estimates.
The U.S. added 818,000 fewer jobs than previously reported from the spring of 2023 to the spring of 2024, indicating the labor market began to cool off earlier and faster than it appeared at the time.
The government’s revised estimate of employment growth showed the economy gained about 2.1 million jobs from April 2023 to March 2024. Originally the increase in employment during that span was put at 2.9 million.
The updated employment figures mean the economy created an average of 173,000 jobs a month during the period in question instead of 242,000 under the old estimates.
The lower number of new job created gives further impetus for the Federal Reserve to cut interest rates in September as widely expected. The central bank is required under the law to keep inflation low and employment high.
With inflation gradually slowing toward the Fed’s 2% target, the bank has put greater weight on the health of the labor market in considering when to reduce high U.S. interest rates.
The Fed jacked up a key short-term rate to a 23-year peak in 2022 and 2023 to quell the highest inflation in 40 years.
