{"id":31769,"date":"2025-08-10T07:41:46","date_gmt":"2025-08-10T14:41:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/essential.construction\/news\/construction-economists-say-they-trust-revised-jobs-data\/"},"modified":"2025-08-10T07:41:46","modified_gmt":"2025-08-10T14:41:46","slug":"construction-economists-say-they-trust-revised-jobs-data","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/essential.construction\/news\/construction-economists-say-they-trust-revised-jobs-data\/","title":{"rendered":"Construction economists say they trust revised jobs data"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> [ad_1]<br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<div class=\"text-to-speech\">\n    <button class=\"text-to-speech__button button\"><br \/>\n        <img decoding=\"async\" class=\"text-to-speech__button__icon\" src=\"https:\/\/www.constructiondive.com\/static\/img\/play.svg?500116090725\" alt=\"-\"><br \/>\n        Listen to the article<br \/>\n        <span class=\"text-to-speech__button__audio-length\">3 min<\/span><br \/>\n    <\/button><\/p>\n<div class=\"text-to-speech__controls\">\n        <audio controls=\"\" class=\"js-text-to-speech\" preload=\"none\"><source src=\"https:\/\/res.cloudinary.com\/dmgi9movl\/video\/upload\/q_1\/v1754576902\/news\/text_to_speech\/jobs-report-trump-fires-bls-revision_asrxfr.wav\" type=\"audio\/mp3\"><\/source><\/audio><\/p>\n<div class=\"text-to-speech__controls__text\">\n            This audio is auto-generated. Please let us know if you have <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.constructiondive.com\/contact\/\" target=\"_blank\">feedback<\/a>.\n        <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><span><span><span><span><span><span>President Donald Trump\u2019s recent firing of a Bureau of Labor Statistics commissioner over <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.bls.gov\/news.release\/pdf\/empsit.pdf\" target=\"_blank\"><span><span><span><span><span><span><span><span>July\u2019s federal jobs report<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a><span><span><span><span><span><span> cast nationwide attention on the practice of monthly revisions to the data.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span><span><span><span><span><span>Trump took issue with the Aug. 1 report\u2019s revision of previous months\u2019 numbers, which reduced the employment numbers from May and June. Nevertheless, revisions to federal data are common, according to construction economists.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span><span><span><span><span><span>The practice comes as the BLS collects new data from employers who may be slower to report previous numbers, or as it corrects any errors.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span><span><span><span><span><span>Ken Simonson, chief economist for the Associated General Contractors of America \u2014 who also served from 2009 to 2015 on BLS\u2019 Data Users Advisory Committee \u2014 joined other economists in reinforcing the accuracy of the numbers, despite their negative reflection of the economy. He also warned that the Aug. 1 firing of BLS Commissioner Erika McEntarfer could weaken trust in national jobs data.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span><span><span><span><span><span>\u201cIt is extremely unfortunate that the president removed a distinguished career economist and cast aspersions on the report,\u201d said Simonson. \u201cIt may backfire on him in that a subsequent report with more positive numbers will now be regarded as having been manipulated to please him.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span><span><span><span><span><span>In terms of revisions to construction employment numbers, the BLS dropped June growth numbers by 90% from 147,000 new jobs to 14,000 new jobs, said Anirban Basu, chief economist of Associated Builders and Contractors. By comparison, for the year before June 2025 the average monthly revision between the first and second estimates was roughly 15,000 jobs, Basu said.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<h3 class=\"standard-heading\"><span><span><span><strong><span><span>July numbers<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/h3>\n<p><span><span><span><span><span><span>For the July construction employment numbers, which were released the same day as the May and June revisions, <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.abc.org\/News-Media\/News-Releases\/abc-construction-employment-growth-anemic-in-july\" target=\"_blank\"><span><span><span><span><span><span><span><span>nonresidential building employment<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a><span><span><span><span><span><span> rose by 6,400 jobs compared to June, according to analysis by Basu. That mark was also higher year over year by 114,000.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<figure class=\"inside_story\">\n<div class=\"figure_content\">\n<div><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"A chart showing construction employment numbers.\" data-imagemodel=\"184067\" src=\"https:\/\/imgproxy.divecdn.com\/Iq15YzoRvxiPEPaJsiL-F1mxsoTNfCiB3bxCH9R5EWI\/g:ce\/rs:fit:1600:0\/Z3M6Ly9kaXZlc2l0ZS1zdG9yYWdlL2RpdmVpbWFnZS9TY3JlZW5zaG90XzIwMjUtMDgtMDdfMTAwMzM5LnBuZw==.webp\"\/><\/div>\n<\/div><figcaption class=\"inside_story_caption\">\n<p>Courtesy of Associated Builders and Contractors<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><span><span><span><span><span><span>Industrywide employment is up 1.2% over the past year, a pace Basu called \u201clackluster.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span><span><span><span><span><span>\u201cThe volatility in official economic statistics merely adds to the most salient aspect of the economy today: pervasive uncertainty,\u201d Basu told Construction Dive. Softening construction could be attributed to high interest rates, a slowing economy and that uncertainty, Basu said.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span><span><span><span><span><span>\u201cIn short, unless contractors are engaged in ongoing public works, data center and\/or related power construction, the near-term outlook is not especially positive,\u201d he said.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span><span><span><span><span><span>Residential construction has seen a continuous decline in employment numbers due to what Simonson called an \u201cextreme weakness\u201d in multifamily and single-family sectors.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span><span><span><span><span><span>For the time being, construction\u2019s employment outpaces declines in overall, total nonfarm payroll numbers, BLS data shows. That may not last, however.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<figure class=\"inside_story\">\n<div class=\"figure_content\">\n<div><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"A chart showing employment data.\" data-imagemodel=\"184068\" src=\"https:\/\/imgproxy.divecdn.com\/-kR_NgV4uYjNHDuQZ9Wi2ZPpAV2e_ufzpyRKJ1a8cHo\/g:ce\/rs:fit:1600:0\/Z3M6Ly9kaXZlc2l0ZS1zdG9yYWdlL2RpdmVpbWFnZS9TY3JlZW5zaG90XzIwMjUtMDgtMDdfMTAwNTI5LnBuZw==.webp\"\/><\/div>\n<\/div><figcaption class=\"inside_story_caption\">\n<p>Courtesy of The Associated General Contractors of America<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><span><span><span><span><span><span>\u201cI see no reason to expect positive figures or an extreme positive,\u201d Simonson said about the near future. \u201cI would expect construction employment to remain pretty close to current levels.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span><span><span><span><span><span>Looking ahead, Basu cautioned that contractors may need to tighten the purse strings.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span><span><span><span><span><span>\u201cThat means perhaps spending less aggressively on equipment and adding personnel. It may also mean releasing underperformers from employment after a period of rapid industry hiring,\u201d Basu said.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p>[ad_2]<br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.constructiondive.com\/news\/jobs-report-trump-fires-bls-revision\/757048\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">This article was originally posted at Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>[ad_1] Listen to the article 3 min This audio is auto-generated. Please let us know if you have feedback. President &#8230; <a title=\"Construction economists say they trust revised jobs data\" class=\"read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/essential.construction\/news\/construction-economists-say-they-trust-revised-jobs-data\/\" aria-label=\"Read more about Construction economists say they trust revised jobs data\">Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[457],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-31769","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-construction-dive","generate-columns","tablet-grid-50","mobile-grid-100","grid-parent","grid-33"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/essential.construction\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31769","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/essential.construction\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/essential.construction\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/essential.construction\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/essential.construction\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31769"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/essential.construction\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31769\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/essential.construction\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31769"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/essential.construction\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31769"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/essential.construction\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31769"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}