By Lauren Kaori Gurley and Rachel Siegel, The Washington PostA retail worker in the Soho neighborhood of New York.
The government reported Wednesday that the economy created 818,000 fewer jobs from April 2023 through March 2024, in the biggest revision to federal jobs data in 15 years, according to data released Wednesday by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. “We already knew we had been living the best of consumers being discerning but not defeated. That narrative is contingent on the labor market holding up and layoffs remaining in check,” said Diane Swonk, chief economist at KPMG. “The Fed needs to cut if they want to sustain the Goldilocks scenario.”
The new data comes as Federal Reserve officials are headed to Wyoming for the annual Jackson Hole Economic Symposium, a “who’s who” of global policymakers and economists. The financial markets were already eager for Fed Chair Jerome H. Powell’s speech there on Friday, anxious for hints about a September rate cut. But now, Fed officials will be pressed to explain how the paired-back jobs figures shape their understanding of an economy that continues to surprise.