Job Growth Revisions Reveal Trump Inherited a Weakening Economy

"Most of the time span for the report came before President Donald Trump took office, indicating the jobs picture was deteriorating before he began levying tariffs against U.S. trading partners" wrote CNBC. The Labor Department has quietly admitted that the U.S. economy was far weaker than Americans were led to believe. Annual revisions to nonfarm payroll data show the economy created 911,000 fewer jobs through March 2025 than originally reported—the largest downward revision on record since 2002.

This means average job growth was overstated by about 76,000 per month, and the sectors hardest hit included leisure and hospitality (-176,000), professional and business services (-158,000), and retail trade (-126,200).

Importantly, most of this job destruction happened before President Donald Trump returned to office. The revisions confirm what Trump has long argued: he inherited a deteriorating labor market. For years, critics have tried to gaslight the American people by blaming his tariffs for economic weakness. In reality, the Biden–Harris administration left behind a labor market already shedding jobs and running out of steam.

As Nationwide Financial economist Oren Klachkin noted, the slower job creation “implies income growth was also on a softer footing even prior to the recent rise in policy uncertainty and economic slowdown.”

With these historic revisions, the narrative is clear: Trump didn’t break the economy—he now faces the task of fixing what Biden and Harris broke.