Former President Donald Trump was apparently just as surprised as economists upon learning of a significant jobs data revision by the Biden administration, and cautioned Americans over fiscal "fraud" in a new interview on Thursday.
"They don't mention the economy because the economy's horrible," Trump said in a phone call on "Fox & Friends." "They defrauded the people of our country with the job numbers. You saw that? 818,000 fake jobs they put in the rolls."
"They thought they were going to keep those numbers until right after the election, when they could announce a revision… They were fraudulent job numbers," he added.
On Wednesday, the Bureau of Labor Statistics revised down its total tally of jobs created in the year through March by 818,000 as part of its preliminary annual benchmark review of payroll data.
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That suggests the economy added an average of 174,000 jobs per month during that time period — below the previous 242,000 estimate. On a monthly basis, that amounts to about 68,000 fewer jobs.
It also marks the largest downward revision since 2009.
"I think it was a fraud. 818,000 jobs, that is almost a million jobs… Everyone knows the economy's lousy. I see their job numbers, I was surprised. It was a fraud," Trump reacted.
"That was absolutely a fraud. They ought to investigate themselves. And by the way, nothing will happen."
The revised data is mostly derived from state unemployment tax records that employers are required to file. The figure, which is preliminary, may be updated when the government releases the final figure in February 2025.
"The numbers are horrible. The economy's bad. Inflation is killing our country," Trump said. "They don't talk about the million people that they falsely reported had jobs, and they don't have jobs. They don't exist. It was a total fraud. They don't really talk about it."
In hopes of tackling inflation concerns, Vice President Kamala Harris – now the Democratic presidential nominee – has pitched a price control concept, which would institute a federal price-fixing plan for corporations.
The 45th president likened the policy plan to those of socialist pasts.
"Price controls have been used many, many times over the years, usually by dictators and all, but they've been used many times. They've never, ever worked. Venezuela used price controls and Venezuela got driven out. There, you can't get a loaf of bread," Trump noted.
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"Even Richard Nixon tried them. They've always led to huge inflation. And you don't get anything, and you end up with empty stores," he continued. "They are a disaster. Thirty-eight different cases, 38 cases were abject total failures."
In a statement to FOX Business, Biden’s White House Council of Economic Advisers Chair Jared Bernstein defended their jobs record and said "this preliminary estimate doesn’t change the fact that the jobs recovery has been and remains historically strong, delivering solid job and wage gains, strong consumer spending, and record small business creation."
FOX Business’ Megan Henney contributed to this report.
