Marshall demands answers for overestimated job numbers

KANSAS (KSNT) - U.S. Senator Roger Marshall has sent a letter to the Department of Labor demanding answers for overestimated U.S. job numbers.

Marshall is seeking information from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) after several downward revisions in the job numbers after they were published. The letter alleges the BLS revised their job numbers for January 2024, the BLS annual 2023 benchmark review and for the 12 months through March 2024. In total, the reports had been revised by over 1.2 million jobs.

"There were multiple instances over the last year in which news outlets reported that the job market was “strong,” “red-hot,” or “sizzling,” to name a few," Marshall's letter to Acting Secretary Julie Su reads. "News outlets took initial BLS data at face value, concluding that the job market was strong."

Marshall argues the numbers paint a false impression of the validity of the Bureau's accuracy and legitimacy.

"Given the woeful record of the Bureau over the last two years, it is time for the BLS to accurately assess labor participation at the outset and admit the fact that the number of full-time employed Americans decreased by 510,000 from July 2023 to July 2024," Marshall said in the letter.

Marshall demanded answers to the following questions:

• Why has BLS repeatedly revised downward its monthly job estimates over the last two years?
• Why has BLS repeatedly revised downward its annual benchmark revision for each of the last two years?
• Of the jobs created under the Biden-Harris Administration, how many were simply recouped from the COVID-19 pandemic job losses?
• Of new jobs added that were not recouped from the COVID-19 pandemic, what percentage were full-time jobs versus part-time jobs?
• Of new jobs added that were not recouped from the COVID-19 pandemic, what percentage are jobs within the federal government?
• What percentage of new jobs in 2024 have been full-time rather than part-time?
• What percentage of the revised job numbers are going to foreign workers?
• What in the BLS’s methodology is malfunctioning so badly that it must revise its job numbers downward by almost a million jobs?
• Are there any protections in place guarding these important statistics against influence from presidential administrations that have an interest in having their BLS report favorable job outcomes?

Marshall requested a response to his letter by Sept. 9, 2024.

"The department has received the letter and will review it," a U.S. Department of Labor Spokesperson told 27 News.

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