U.S. employment data revised sharply downward, with 911,000 fewer jobs added in the year to March

The US government said on Tuesday that the US economy likely added 911,000 fewer jobs than previously estimated in the 12 months ending in March, suggesting signs of stagnating job growth even before Trump implemented tough tariffs on imports. Economists had previously projected that the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), part of the US Department of Labor, would revise downwards its employment forecast for April 2024 to March 2025 by between 400,000 and 1 million jobs. Previously, the employment forecast for April 2023 to March 2024 had been revised downwards by 598,000 jobs. This benchmark revision followed news released last Friday that job growth nearly stagnated in August and that June saw the first loss of jobs in four and a half years. In addition to being weighed down by trade policy uncertainty, the labor market is also under pressure from the White House's tightening immigration policies, which are weakening the labor supply. At the same time, businesses' shift to artificial intelligence tools and automation is also dampening demand for labor. Economists believe the downward revision to job growth will have little impact on monetary policy. The Federal Reserve is expected to resume cutting interest rates next Wednesday after pausing its easing cycle in January due to uncertainty about the impact of tariffs.