U.S. Economy Job Creation Revision

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. economy created 598,000 fewer jobs in the 12 months through March than previously estimated, according to the Labor Department’s Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) on Friday.

The final nonfarm payrolls benchmark revision was a decrease of less than the 818,000 reduction the BLS estimated in August. Note that the numbers are not seasonally adjusted.

Economists had anticipated that the level of employment over the 12-month period would be reduced by about 668,000 jobs following updates to the Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages data for the first quarter, which served as the basis for the BLS’s payroll benchmark revision.