Americans hoping for an economic rebound in the waning months of 2024 under the Biden-Harris administration did not receive the news they were hoping for on Friday.
According to a report by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), the U.S. economy only added 12,000 nonfarm payroll jobs during October. The nation’s unemployment rate remained “essentially unchanged” at 4.1 percent.
The agency detailed how “[e]mployment continued to trend up in health care and government” sectors, while job losses were reported in the “help services” sector. The manufacturing industry also experienced a decline in job numbers, which BLS attributed to “strike activity.”
According to Fox Business, the 12,000 total is “well below the 113,000 gain that was predicted by LSEG economists and the lowest tally since December 2020.”
Equally notable, however, is the agency’s revelation that the total number of nonfarm payroll jobs for August and September were less than originally reported. According to BLS, August’s total “was revised down by 81,000, from +159,000 to +78,000, and the change for September was revised down by 31,000, from +254,000 to +223,000.”
“With these revisions, employment in August and September combined is 112,000 lower
[nonfarm payroll jobs] than previously reported,” the agency concluded.
The Biden-Harris administration’s downward revision of job totals is not a new phenomenon. Results from an annual analysis by BLS published in August revealed that the U.S. economy added 818,000 fewer jobs from March 2023 to March 2024 than originally reported.
October’s jobs numbers present an increasing problem for Kamala Harris ahead of Tuesday’s presidential election. Since becoming the Democrat nominee, the vice president has failed to differentiate herself from President Joe Biden and the policies enacted under their administration, and she has regularly touted the party’s “Bidenomics” economic agenda.
While speaking with CNN’s Dana Bash in August, for example, Harris declared that she was “very proud” of the administration’s policies driving the country’s economic crisis. The comments came the same month The Federalist’s Jordan Boyd reported that “[b]asic goods and services cost at least 20 percent more now than they did when [Joe] Biden and Harris first entered the White House.”
It’s worth noting that, contrary to Biden’s repeated claims, many of the jobs “created” under his and Harris’ tenure are not new jobs, but those recovered following the Covid lockdowns.
Shawn Fleetwood is a staff writer for The Federalist and a graduate of the University of Mary Washington. He previously served as a state content writer for Convention of States Action and his work has been featured in numerous outlets, including RealClearPolitics, RealClearHealth, and Conservative Review. Follow him on Twitter @ShawnFleetwood
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