:max_bytes(150000):strip_icc()/GettyImages-2243220528-6643c1f1854d44218e6bc8f10d634750.jpg "Data Revision Pokes Hole In Biden Job Creation Record")
:max_bytes(150000):strip_icc():format(jpeg)/GettyImages-2243220528-6643c1f1854d44218e6bc8f10d634750.jpg)
Key Takeaways
- A revision to historical job creation data showed the economy lost 48,000 jobs in January 2025 instead of gaining 111,000, wrecking former President Joe Biden’s formerly perfect record on job creation.
- Until Wednesday, Biden was the only president who never presided over job losses while he was in office—now that’s only true for full months of his presidency.
Unexpectedly upbeat job creation data released Wednesday by the Bureau of Labor Statistics gave President Donald Trump reason to celebrate, and added an asterisk to a record formerly held by his predecessor, Joe Biden.
What This Means For The Economy
The downward revisions of past job creation data do little to change the economic outlook, since forecasters had largely anticipated them.
Until Wednesday, the bureau’s data on job creation showed the economy gained jobs every single month Joe Biden was president, making him the only commander-in-chief in history to have never presided over job losses.
However, a routine revision to data from 2024 and 2025 means that’s no longer true: it turns out the economy actually lost 48,000 jobs in January 2025, a month that spans the presidencies of both Biden and Trump. Previously, the BLS had estimated the economy gained 111,000 jobs that month.
Biden could now only accurately say the economy never lost jobs in any full month he was president.
The BLS revises historical numbers regularly, as it incorporates data from surveys that come in after its monthly jobs reports are released and makes changes to its methodology.
Overall, the latest round of revisions showed employers added far fewer jobs over most of 2024 and 2025 than previously thought, making 2025 the worst year for job creation outside of a recession in more than two decades.
Further revisions are expected next month when the bureau is set to incorporate statistical changes due to population estimates.
