An updated jobs report has found that nationwide job creation during 2024 was nearly one million fewer than previously reported. Pennsylvania’s nonpartisan Independent Fiscal Office found that last year’s job gains in Pennsylvania were just half of the number originally reported in March.
Citing recently released federal Bureau of Labor Statistics data, the IFO said the revised numbers are based on the Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages (QCEW) database, which includes all employers that are part of the state unemployment insurance system and reflects jobs and wage data reported in monthly and quarterly administrative filings. QCEW data for March 2025 show year-over-year job creation of 33,000, with large downward revisions across many industries.
The IFO report said these might be due to policies or expected policies of the new Trump administration “and the availability of federal funding.” The Bureau of Labor Statistics also attributes errors to “non-response” from employers, who are more likely to report gains than losses.
“These revised job numbers show Pennsylvania added fewer positions than initially reported, particularly in healthcare, retail, and social services,” Michael Plummer, Director of Public Affairs for the PA Chamber, said in a news article. “While the underlying trend remains positive, it highlights the urgent need for policies that drive business investment, support entrepreneurship, and create more jobs. The PA Chamber will continue pushing for pro-growth policies that help Pennsylvania compete and encourages our employers to expand and thrive.”
The PA Chamber is promoting these pro-growth policies through the Keystone Initiative – a private-sector-led roadmap to improve the Commonwealth’s long-term economic future through proactive policies that encourage business growth. Among those policies are tax reforms to reduce burdens on existing and prospective businesses, reforms to reduce permitting challenges, expansion of workforce upskilling and reskilling initiatives, and addressing the childcare crisis to support working families and economic participation.
The IFO said this preliminary data can be used to estimate the revisions that will eventually be applied to the March 2025 report.
President Donald Trump said he was using the corrected job numbers, in part, to encourage Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell to lower interest rates to help boost the economy. Last week, the Federal Reserve announced it would do so by 0.25 percentage points.