The Bureau of Labor Statistics revised its initial estimate of monthly job growth lower in 16 of the 20 months between January 2025 and August 2026, trimming the combined total by about 822,000 jobs, according to its revision tables.
The revisions mean employers added fewer jobs than the bureau first counted, not that workers lost jobs. Every month of 2025 fell, and four months of 2026 rose. The count starts from each month’s first published estimate. The table lists none for October 2025, so that month starts from its second. For 2025 months, the third estimate averaged 58,000 jobs below the first.
In its October 2 release, the bureau said payrolls grew by 29,000 in September. A Dow Jones survey of economists had called for 84,000. The jobless rate edged up to 4.2%, from 4.1% in August. The release also turned July’s 21,000-job gain into a 10,000-job loss and trimmed August’s gain from 162,000 to 133,000, removing 60,000 jobs.
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The bureau publishes each month’s figure fast, from a sample of roughly 119,000 employers, and replaces it as more responses arrive, the American Action Forum explains. Each year the bureau also benchmarks payroll counts against tax records from state unemployment insurance programs, which the forum says cover more than 95% of jobs.
Last year’s preliminary benchmark cut payrolls by 911,000 for the year through March 2025, the largest on record, Bloomberg reported. This year’s preliminary benchmark found payrolls were overstated by 79,000 jobs in the year through March 2026, which the American Action Forum calls the smallest correction since 2021.
