Behind the Numbers: The 818,000 Phantom Jobs Scandal

Now they are telling us that 818,000 “jobs” that the U.S. economy supposedly “created” never actually existed at all.  As you will see below, Donald Trump is calling this a “massive scandal” and he is right.  Month after month, we are given employment numbers that are grossly overstated and everyone knows it.  The grossly overstated numbers make the economy look far better than it actually is, and if Americans perceive that the economy is doing well they will be more likely to vote for the party that is already controlling the White House.  Over the past few years, the difference between economic reality and what the government is actually reporting to us has become absolutely enormous, and many believe that this is being done for nefarious political reasons.

We all knew that the revision that we were going to get on Wednesday would be huge, but very few expected that it would be this huge…

U.S. job growth during much of the past year was significantly weaker than previously reported, according to new data published 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. 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.

How can the BLS be off by 818,000 jobs?

Either the BLS is highly incompetent, or else something else is going on here.

Approximately 30 percent of the “new jobs” that were reported during the 12 months ending in March have been suddenly wiped out.

Month after month, the employment numbers have made the Democrats look good, and now we have learned that those numbers were fraudulent.

After the gigantic downward revision was announced on Wednesday, Donald Trump said that it is a “massive scandal” that Democrats got credit for 818,000 jobs that never actually existed at all…

Donald Trump has branded revised jobs data released on Wednesday as a ‘massive scandal’ – after it was revealed the US economy created 818,000 fewer jobs over the last year than originally reported.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics said the jobs growth data for the 12 months to March was actually 30 percent less than it’s initial figure of 2.9 million.

The update, which is based on a more detailed quarterly source, was the largest downward revision since 2009 – coinciding with the global financial crisis.

Apologists for the BLS are insisting that nobody could have anticipated this.

But it turns out that some people were clearly warning us about the overstated employment numbers all along.

For example, several months ago Zero Hedge specifically warned their readers that “payrolls are overstated by at least 800,000”…

Back in March, when most of Wall Street and economists still believed the lies spewed forth by the Biden Bureau of Labor Statistics, which intentionally uses inaccurate, rushed “data” from the Establishment survey which is meant to pad sentiment and make the economy appear far stronger than it is for propaganda purposes (as one can see by the constant monthly downward revisions), we did an in-depth analysis looking at the actual, “uncooked” numbers published by the Philadelphia Fed preview of the annual Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages employment revision, and warned our readers that actual US payrolls are overstated by at least 800,000.

Zero Hedge nailed it.

Why couldn’t the BLS see the same thing?

The good news is that this latest revision makes it even more likely that the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates in September…

The significantly cooler labor market depicted by the revisions could affect the thinking of Federal Reserve officials as they weigh when – and by how much – to lower interest rates now that inflation is easing. Many economists expect the Fed to reduce rates by a quarter percentage point next month, though some anticipated a half-point cut following a report early this month that showed just 114,000 job gains in July.

A rate cut cannot come soon enough.

Hopefully we will see a cut of at least 50 basis points, because right now large portions of the economy are really struggling.

Just look at the restaurant industry.  It employs millions of people, and as Kevin O’Leary has pointed out, it has definitely fallen on hard times…

The US restaurant industry finds itself on the menu.

Seemingly every day, there’s a headline announcing a bankruptcy, layoff or store closure impacting one of the country’s most beloved brands.

Last month, Red Lobster filed for Chapter 11 after closing nearly 100 stores. Cracker Barrel – with restaurants in 45 states – has seen its share value plummet over the last year. The once-booming chain Boston Market, which boasted 1,200 locations in the 1990s, is now reportedly down to two dozen.

So why is this happening?

According to O’Leary, there are several factors that are combining to cripple the industry…

Supply chains crippled by the COVID pandemic lockdown haven’t recovered. Food costs – especially for proteins like chicken, beef and seafood – are up 30 to 40 percent over the last 36 months. Worst of all for the restaurant industry – customers haven’t returned from the shutdowns.

I can’t argue with a single thing that O’Leary said there.

A “restaurant apocalypse” has already begun, and it is going to get even worse during the months ahead.

That means that a lot more restaurant workers are going to be losing their jobs, and that is really bad news.

As I noted yesterday, an all-time record high 28.4 percent of U.S. adults are already currently looking for a job…

The New York Federal Reserve’s latest poll of consumers found 28.4% of respondents were looking for a job — the highest reading since March 2014 and up from 19.4% a year ago. That includes both individuals already out of a job and ones currently employed but seeking new roles.

The readings, from the New York Fed’s thrice-annual Survey of Consumer Expectations Labor Market Survey, add to evidence that the U.S. economic outlook is worsening, even as some economists dial back their odds of a recession.

It is infuriating to hear the Democrats talk about how well the economy is doing.

They want everyone to believe that everything is just fine, and meanwhile thousands upon thousands of businesses are declaring bankruptcy.

We have entered a period of tremendous economic chaos, but the Democrats would have us believe that everything is rainbows and lollipops.

Thankfully, there is a growing number of people that can see right through their carefully crafted charade.

This article originally appeared on The Economic Collapse Blog.