U.S. jobs data revised down sharply, adding 911,000 fewer jobs as of March

The US economy is likely to add 911,000 fewer jobs in the 12 months to March than previously estimated, the government said on Tuesday, signalling signs of stalling job growth ahead of Trump's tough tariffs on imports. Economists had predicted that the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), part of the Labor Department, could cut the employment level from April 2024 to March 2025 by 400,000 to 1 million jobs. Previously, the employment level from April 2023 to March 2024 had been lowered by 598,000 jobs. The benchmark revision follows another announcement on Friday that job growth nearly stalled in August, after June saw the first job loss 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 to tighten immigration policy, which has dented labor supply. At the same time, companies' shift to artificial intelligence tools and automation is also dampening demand for labor. Economists believe the downward revision in the job growth data has little impact on monetary policy. The Federal Reserve is expected to resume interest rate cuts next Wednesday after pausing its easing cycle in January due to uncertainty over the impact of tariffs.