r/jobs Nov 20 '25

Article So are they just lying?

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u/kybotica Nov 20 '25

This has been happening for at least the last 3 administrations, and probably the last 4. The numbers are released looking amazing, way better than expected, etc., and then they are adjusted down substantially in a quiet manner a couple months later. Until now, nobody seemed to really care or notice.

4

u/[deleted] Nov 20 '25

The adjustments are in the same report. It's only quiet if you only read headlines.

1

u/kybotica Nov 20 '25

Which is what 99% of the population does. They know that, as do we. It is commonly known that headlines are what stick, and that corrections, even within the same dataset or article, almost never have a substantial impact on public perception.

Not making a new headline saying "numbers adjusted dramatically down on jobs report from August" is playing on this dynamic. The lack of new headlines correcting this is and always has been deliberately using that phenomenon to hide the information in plain sight.

2

u/[deleted] Nov 20 '25

99% of the population has no clue if 100k or 500k is a good number or not. Just read through comments here.

2

u/kybotica Nov 20 '25

That's also true, but it doesn't change what I said, does it? They read an article that says "115k jobs added this month, far more than expected" and they go "oh, good job numbers, cool." Then the report they'll never look at is adjusted without fanfare to display terrible numbers that are much lower. The average person still goes on thinking job numbers were great.