The shockingly high 353,000 January job growth reported by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) on Friday just doesn’t make sense, investment advisor and Tax Attorney Rebecca Walser says, noting that private sector reports strongly contradict the BLS’s claim.
“It doesn’t jibe, because The Challenger Report just said that U.S. employers announced 82,000 job cuts in the month of January,” Walser explained in a Fox News Channel interview with Host Maria Bartiromo.
“So where are all these jobs coming from?” she asked dubiously:
“Obviously we need to look at the details, but it does not compute. They do not add up.”
Recent layoffs at big-name employers belie the BLS report, she noted:
“And I think that, you know — you’ve got UPS saying 12,000, Citi saying 20,000 — we’re getting these consistently big announcements of massive layoffs. And yet, we come with a Jobs Report that’s like the best Jobs Report we’ve seen in six months?”
Indeed, January was reportedly one of the largest month for layoffs in nearly 15 years.
“What is happening with the BLS data? What is happening?” Walser asked.
The Jobs Report claims that 353k jobs were added in January - despite a large number of companies announcing 80-100k in layoffs. @rebeccawalser is skeptical and is saying what we are all thinking: pic.twitter.com/Mk6dCwcv1f
— Andrew @ Don’t Walk, RUN! (@DontWalkRUN) February 2, 2024
Walser isn’t the only analyst baffled by BLS’s robust 353,000 claim.
“Yeah, I just don’t buy it,” Fox Business’s Cheryl Casone said. “Full-time jobs, what do we do with that data? I think, at this point, we wait until next month.”
Private payroll firm ADP’s monthly report estimates that job growth slowed to a mere 107,000 in January – less than a third of BLS’s number.
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