the Biden administration exaggerated the number of jobs created in the US during the second quarter by more than 1 million, according to a report Issued by the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia.
The Philadelphia Fed report found that just 10,500 net new jobs were created between March and June.
That finding is in stark contrast to figures released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, which estimated that 1.12 million new jobs were added between March and June 2022.
Economists at the Philadelphia regional central bank released their own report last week that compiled data on unemployment insurance payments.
The Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia said its estimates “incorporate more complete and accurate employment estimates published by the BLS as part of its Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages (QCEW) program to augment the sample data of BLS reports” that are “issue monthly in a timely manner.”
The regional central bank said its “revised estimates” are issued “five months later with a more complete picture” than the BLS’s “Current Employment Survey” (CES).
One expert told The Post that the stark contrast in the numbers could be explained by “the use of different methods to collect and analyze the data.”
“The Bureau of Labor Statistics collects its data through surveys of employers and households, while the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia relies on data from unemployment insurance payments,” Mina Tadrus, chief executive officer of Tadrus Capital, told The Post. .
“It’s also possible that there are variations in the definitions and categories used by the two organizations when determining what counts as new work.”
Tadrus told The Post that “the significant difference in their findings highlights the need for caution when interpreting and using economic data to inform decision making.”
Economists have said that The chain of sharp rises in interest rates by the Federal Reserve he relied mainly on the BLS job growth figures, which have complicated the central bank’s efforts to rein in red-hot inflation.
Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) said the Biden administration has been “lying to the American people about our economy to prop up their failed agenda.”
“Wrong by a million jobs,” Scott tweeted last Friday.
The senator demands to meet with the head of the BLS.
CES surveys some 131,000 businesses and government agencies representing roughly 670,000 workplaces across the United States, according to the BLS website.
But the QCEW is considered “more comprehensive” since it bases its findings on surveys of “more than 95% of all employers” that are conducted five months after the corresponding quarter, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia.
“Our initial benchmarking process does not attempt to be as comprehensive as the BLS process, as we do not have access to all of the data that the BLS uses,” the Philadelphia Fed said in describing its methodology.
“Therefore, we accept the BLS’s comparative CES estimates as the base employment level for each state.”
“Once QCEW data is released for periods beyond the latest CES benchmark estimates, we produce our first benchmark estimates,” the Philadelphia Fed added.
