Bureau of Labor Statistics

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With No Jobs Report, Investors Turn to a 'Mosaic' of Sources

They're tracking everything from private surveys to scrap metal prices

(Newser) - With the government's official jobs data on pause, economists and investors are turning to a patchwork of private reports and creative alternatives to track the pulse of America's job market.
  • Payroll giant ADP is one substitute, tapping data from 26 million workers for its employment snapshots, the
...

It May Be This Week's Big Jobs Report, and It's Dour

ADP's September numbers show the private sector shed 32K jobs

(Newser) - With Friday's highly anticipated jobs report likely scuttled by the government shutdown, private-sector numbers released Wednesday are getting extra scrutiny. They aren't rosy: The US private sector shed 32,000 jobs in September, marking the third monthly decline in four months and raising fresh concerns about the...

White House Drops EJ Antoni as Pick for Labor Stats Chief

Nomination pulled after scrutiny over jobs data and January 6 ties

(Newser) - The White House has withdrawn its nomination of economist EJ Antoni to lead the Bureau of Labor Statistics, ending a brief chapter that had drawn scrutiny from economists, lawmakers, and political observers, NBC News reports. Antoni, a conservative and chief economist at the Heritage Foundation, was initially tapped for...

Latest Sign of Softening Labor Market Emerges

The number of Americans filing last week was 263K, a 4-year high

(Newser) - US jobless claim applications jumped to their highest level in almost four years last week, reports the AP , the latest sign that the labor market is softening. The number of Americans filing for unemployment benefits for the week ending Sept. 6 rose 27,000 to 263,000, the Labor Department...

In 6 Months, 400K Women Left the US Workforce

Analysis finds child care costs are pushing moms to stay home amid lack of support

(Newser) - Amid soaring child care costs and mounting pressures at home, the number of mothers with young children leaving the US workforce has hit a 40-year high, a new study suggests. According to a University of Kansas analysis of federal labor data, over 400,000 women stepped away from their...

Employers Added 1M Fewer Jobs Than Believed

BLS revision covers end of Biden term and early part of Trump's

(Newser) - The latest jobs stats add to the evidence that the labor market is shakier than believed— and has been for a while:
  • Big revision: The Bureau of Labor Statistics said employers added 911,000 fewer jobs than initially thought from April 2024 through March 2025, reports the Washington Post . The
...

First Jobs Report Since Trump Fired Official Is Due

Economists expect weak numbers for August

(Newser) - The Bureau of Labor Statistics is set to drop its latest jobs report on Friday, and there's more than usual riding on the numbers. This is the first report since President Trump abruptly fired the agency's commissioner , Erika McEntarfer, after an unexpectedly weak July jobs tally and...

Trump Picks Critic to Run Bureau of Labor Statistics

EJ Antoni had called for Trump to fire Erika McEntarfer

(Newser) - President Trump has turned to the Heritage Foundation for an ally to oversee the Bureau of Labor Statistics, after accusing the last commissioner without evidence of manipulating jobs report data and firing her . EJ Antoni, chief economist at the foundation and a Project 2025 contributor, has been a staunch critic...

Wall Street Journal Has a Question About That Firing

Editors see Trump's move to oust labor statistics official as a mistake

(Newser) - The right-leaning editorial page of the Wall Street Journal is not a fan of President Trump's decision to fire a Bureau of Labor Statistics official after a weak jobs report. The editors see a credibility problem going forward, and they use the example of Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer's...

We Might Need a Better Way to Collect Jobs Data


We Need a
Better Way
to Collect
Jobs Data
the rundown
Aug 4, 2025 10:48 AM CDT

We Need a Better Way to Collect Jobs Data

Trump firing calls attention to the Labor Department's process

(Newser) - The Labor Department revised previous jobs numbers so dramatically last week that President Trump said they had to have been "rigged." (He even fired the head of the Bureau of Labor Statistics.) Skeptics reject the idea of rigged numbers, but even some in this camp say the...

Trump Defends His Controversial Firing

Jobs numbers were 'rigged,' he asserts in Monday post

(Newser) - President Trump is doubling down on his rationale for firing a top statistician in the Labor Department. In a Monday morning post on Truth Social , the president again asserted that the numbers were cooked in a surprisingly weak jobs report that came out on Friday. In the wake of the...

Trump Wants 'His Own People' Counting Jobs, Hassett Says

Others maintain McEntarfer couldn't have altered report's numbers

(Newser) - The director of the White House National Economic Council defended President Trump's firing of the official charged with compiling employment data, saying Sunday that the president needs information he can trust. "The president wants his own people there, so that when we see the numbers, they're more...

Trump Says Job Stats Were Cooked, Orders Firing

President suggests without evidence that Biden appointee distorted Labor Department numbers

(Newser) - Hours after the release of a jobs report that showed hiring has been weak, President Trump ordered the Bureau of Labor Statistics' commissioner fired. "I have directed my Team to fire this Biden Political Appointee, IMMEDIATELY," Trump posted Friday on social media, Bloomberg reports. "She will be...

Economist: The 'Great Resignation' Is Over

New trend finds that workers are staying put amid a cooling labor market, losing some of their leverage

(Newser) - The "great resignation" has ended, and with it some of the power that workers have lately leveraged over employers. The share of monthly job departures relative to total employment fell to 2.4% in April from 2.5% in March, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Wednesday. That's...

In Return to Jobs, a Huge Gender Gap

BLS stats show 1M-plus men went back to job market in Jan. amid pandemic; only 39K women did

(Newser) - The pandemic struck a huge blow to the American workforce, but January's jobs report brought some hopeful news, with employers adding 467,000 jobs last month. But the news appears to be better for men than for women, per Axios , which cites a "jaw-dropping" gender disparity in labor...

With Newfound Clout, Workers Quit Jobs in Record Numbers

Dissatisfied employees can have their pick of opportunities, experts say

(Newser) - The pendulum has swung toward the labor force, and US workers are taking advantage of it. With their pick of employment opportunities these days, more Americans than ever—4.4 million—left their jobs in September, CNN reports. That could become the norm. "Labor now has the initiative, and...

Trump Points to Jobs Report as Cure for Race Issues
Trump: It's a 'Great Day'
for George Floyd
the rundown
Jun 5, 2020 12:12 PM CDT

Trump: It's a 'Great Day' for George Floyd

President celebrates the jobs numbers, speaks of need for 'fair treatment' from police

(Newser) - "Victory lap." That's the term used by the AP and CNN to describe President Trump's reaction to Friday's surprisingly strong jobs report . "This shows that what we've been doing is right," Trump said in the Rose Garden, referring to the White House...

Sticker Shock at the Supermarket? You're Not Alone

Price of groceries just saw record-setting spike due to coronavirus pandemic

(Newser) - With most Americans sheltering at home as they wait out the coronavirus pandemic, you may have noticed that while your eating-out tab has gone down, your supermarket bill has gone up. It's not in your head: The monthly consumer price index has been released by the Bureau of Labor...

Workers in Fastest-Growing Jobs Have Trouble Getting By

Personal care, home health industries expected to add 1.2M jobs by 2026, but pay is low

(Newser) - Those hoping to repair bicycles or fight forest fires will have good luck finding work over the next decade, but home health and personal care aides will fare even better, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics ' list of America's fastest-growing jobs . The US is expecting 0.7%...

Jack Welch Defends Jobs Conspiracy Theory

Compares backlash to 'Soviet Russia'

(Newser) - Jack Welch took to the Wall Street Journal 's op-ed page today to double down on his assertion that the Bureau of Labor Statistic's latest unemployment numbers look too good to be true. The ex-GE CEO's accusation drew a massive backlash , which he says seemed like something...

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