The Bureau of Labor Statistics released its preliminary estimates for the 2026 annual benchmark revision of nonfarm payroll employment on August 28, 2026, marking a direction change after several years of downward corrections. In February 2026, the BLS had already reduced payrolls by 862,000 on a not-seasonally-adjusted basis, the largest downward correction in recent memory. This positive revision contrasts sharply with previous years when each annual benchmark came in lower than the prior estimate, eroding confidence in official employment data. The improvement is partly attributed to higher response rates to the monthly Current Employment Statistics (CES) survey and the superior quality of comprehensive data from the Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages (QCEW). The final benchmark revision will not be incorporated into official data until January 2027.
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