The Labor Department on Wednesday acknowledged in a preliminary report that it overestimated the actual number of jobs in the economy for the year ending in March by roughly 818,000.

Each year, the agency publishes its annual benchmark review for the U.S. employment landscape. In that review, the department revisits its previous estimates to provide a more accurate account of how many Americans are actually employed.

What does this mean? Between March 2023 and March 2024, the Labor Department’s job report estimates have counted 818,000 jobs that don’t exist. Those jobs constitute about half a percent of the entire U.S. workforce, the Labor Department said. The agency noted that for the past decade, its annual benchmark reviews have shown far fewer missing jobs—usually about a tenth of a percent of the total U.S. workforce.

The report casts doubt on the economy’s strength as the Federal Reserve continues to hold interest rates at about 5.25-5.5%. The central bank has kept its key interest rates that high for more than a year in a bid to lower annual inflation to around 2%. The current inflation rate is about 2.5%, Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said last month.

This story originally appeared in WORLD. © 2024, reprinted with permission. All rights reserved.