America Added 178,000 New Jobs Last Month... But How Is That Possible?!

0:00 – 2:21

When the Jobs Number Stops Making Sense

Late last week, the Bureau of Labor Statistics announced 178,000 new jobs added in March. On paper, a win. Unemployment fell by 0.1%. Markets cheered. Politicians took victory laps. But scratch the surface, and the math collapses. Consumer sentiment hit its lowest level since data collection began, surpassing the depths of COVID, the 2008 financial crisis, and even the late-1970s oil shock. The Conference Board found the highest number of consumers ever who considered jobs hard to get. Indeed's hiring data showed companies in "extremely defensive posture." Then came the contradictions. In the same month we allegedly added 178,000 jobs, companies announced over 60,000 job cuts. Weekly unemployment claims jumped to 219,000. The Fed's internal hiring data showed weakness. Most damning: the BLS's own report noted the labor force shrank by 396,000 people. So unemployment claims rose, companies cut jobs, the labor force contracted, yet the official jobs figure went up. Either some combination of these numbers is fabricated, or they've become so unintuitive that relying on them borders on malpractice. Revisions have grown massive and routine. We swing between colossal gains and losses month to month. Even basic arithmetic reveals something broken at the foundation of how we measure employment in America.