U.S. job creation over the 12 months ending in March was somewhat weaker than previously reported, according to preliminary annual revisions published Friday by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Approximately 79,000 fewer jobs were added from the second quarter of last year through the first quarter of 2026, the BLS reported, reflecting about 178,000 fewer private-sector jobs added.

Several sectors experienced notable downward revisions in Friday’s update. Retailers shed 154,000 jobs from previously estimated totals, private education and health services employers had 96,000 fewer positions and business services firms saw their payroll tally reduced by 76,000.

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Job gains in the transportation and warehousing sector were revised upward by 135,000, however, while information and financial activities employment was increased by a combined 160,000 jobs.

Construction firms added about 62,000 more jobs than initially reported, and government hiring at the federal, state and local levels was revised upward by 99,000.

The preliminary revisions — which will be finalized and reported in the February 2027 monthly jobs report — equated to a 0.1% reduction, lower than the 0.2% absolute average over the past decade, said BLS.

On a calendar-year basis, the BLS reported in April that just 181,000 nonfarm payroll jobs were added in 2025, the weakest year of job growth since 2003, excluding the recessionary years of 2008, 2009 and 2020.

Macro pressures

Employers have been under pressure over the past year amid a roller coaster of economic turbulence. Trump administration trade wars, sweeping tariff policies, heightened geopolitical tensions, including the ongoing Iran war, and rapid advancements in artificial intelligence have all increased uncertainty for U.S. businesses and consumers.

The supply of workers has also fallen sharply over the past year amid restrictive immigration policies, an aggressive deportation agenda advanced by the president and his allies, and a steady decline in the labor force participation rate, which hit its lowest level since early 2021 in June.

Declining labor demand has ultimately matched falling labor supply, keeping the unemployment rate in the low-4% range for more than a year in what economists have widely dubbed a “low hire, low fire” job market.

Elevated inflation has also raised costs for businesses while eroding consumer purchasing power and economic outlooks.

While Friday’s revised totals were less extreme than corrections made over the past two years, sustained sluggish job creation means there was fundamentally a much lower volume of jobs created to revise higher or lower in the first place.

Last September, the BLS had estimated that about 911,000 fewer jobs were added over the 12 months ending in March 2025. That figure was finalized this past spring at a slightly lower — albeit still substantial — overcount of 861,000 jobs.