WASHINGTON (AP) — The nation’s job market was weaker in 2024 and early this year than originally reported, adding to concerns about the health of the nation’s economy.

Employers added 911,000 fewer jobs than originally reported in the year that ended in March 2025, the Labor Department reported earlier this week.

The department issues the so-called benchmark revisions every year. They are intended to better account for new businesses and ones that had gone out of business. The numbers issued this week are preliminary. Final revisions will come out in February 2026.

The revision showed that leisure and hospitality firms — including hotels and restaurants — added 176,000 fewer jobs than originally reported, professional and business services companies 158,000 fewer and retailers 126,000 fewer.

The report comes after the department last week reported that the economy generated 22,000 jobs in August.

President Donald Trump this year imposed higher tariffs on most countries and some economists say that may have had an impact on the job market. This latest report shows the job market was weakening before Trump took office again in January.

Sal Guatieri, senior economist at BMO Capital Markets said the revisions painted “a much weaker portrait of the job market than initially thought. While the revision doesn’t say much about what has happened since March, it suggests the labor market had less momentum heading into the trade war. And, recent data suggest the market has downshifted further.”

Since March, monthly job creation has decelerated to an average of 53,000.

When the preliminary benchmark revisions last year showed 818,000 fewer jobs in the year ended March 2024, then-presidential candidate Trump declared the numbers had been rigged to conceal economic weakness and help Democrats in the 2024 election.

The final revisions for the 12 months that ended March 2024, which came out in February this year, were down: Payrolls ended 589,000 lower than originally reported.

The latest revisions are expected to increase pressure on the Federal Reserve to cut interest rates at its meeting later this month to give the economy a boost.

Government economists have been struggling with a dramatic drop in the number of employers that respond to their surveys. Still, most economists and financial analysts consider the official jobs numbers reliable.

Last week’s jobs report showed the unemployment rate ticked up to 4.3 percent, the highest since 2021.

Revisions showed the economy lost 13,000 jobs in June, the first monthly losses since December 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Health care and social assistance companies — a category that spans hospital to daycare centers — added nearly 47,000 jobs in August and now account for 87 percent of the private-sector jobs created in 2025.