Joco Today

U.S. Senator Roger Marshall has led a letter to the Department of Labor Deputy Secretary Julie Su, seeking explanations for what he describes as manipulated job reports that significantly overestimated the number of U.S. jobs added. The letter was co-signed by Senators Ted Budd (R-NC), Rick Scott (R-FL), Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), and Markwayne Mullin (R-OK).

Senator Marshall's letter addresses several discrepancies in job numbers reported by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) over the past two years. He cited specific instances where job numbers were revised downward, including a 97,000 revision for January 2024 and an 818,000 total downward revision for jobs created in the 12-month period through March 2024.

Marshall argued that these discrepancies mislead the public about the state of the economy. "These discrepancies, representing jobs that the Biden-Harris Administration claimed to have created, which simply do not exist, were reported as signs of economic dynamism and positive job creation," he wrote.

He also criticized how initial BLS data influenced public perception and policy decisions. "Chair Jerome Powell and the Federal Reserve have long claimed to be 'data dependent' in their decisions to set monetary policy," Marshall noted, highlighting that consistent downward revisions cast doubt on BLS data accuracy.

The senator emphasized that misleading job estimates contribute to public distrust in government institutions. "Regularly publishing rosy job estimates that do not represent reality is blatantly dishonest and misleads the American people," he stated.

Asserting that accurate labor participation assessments are crucial ahead of November's presidential election, Marshall demanded written answers from Deputy Secretary Su by September 9, 2024.