May's jobs report blew away expectations…and yet many news media outlets managed to twist good news into disaster.

The U.S. economic news this week was about as good as it gets. 172,000 jobs added to the economy in May of 2026, far exceeding the best predictions of financial experts and market-watchers.

And yet.

And yet, somehow, many progressive-leaning media outlets managed to twist the good news into yet another disaster in “Trump’s America.” Even media outlets that didn’t or couldn’t quite manage the pretzel logic managed to downplay or dismiss the good news about jobs in America.

“U.S. added 172,000 jobs in May, even as inflation squeezed consumers,” complained Steve Kopack for NBC. 

“The number shows a resilient labor market,” allowed Kopack before a caveat: “Although wage growth lags inflation.”

“Unemployment holds at 4.3% in May, but people take longer to find jobs,” put in Katrina Ventura for ABC. “Nearly 2 million Americans were unemployed for more than six months in May 2026, up 524,000 from the same time last year.”

For plenty of increasingly left-leaning media outlets, any good news must be tempered with bad news under Donald Trump. Under former president Joe Biden, the opposite was true. 

Biden was allowed to tout job growth that was really just natural post-pandemic recovery in 2021 and 2022. The inflation media outlets like NBC are touting to the sky in 2026 was dismissed as nonsense, transitory, “Putin’s price hike” — anything to avoid blaming Democrats.

For anything.

“Total nonfarm payroll employment increased by 172,000 in May, and the unemployment rate was unchanged at 4.3 percent, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today,” announced the Department of Labor and Statistics on Friday. “Job gains occurred in leisure and hospitality, local government, and health care.”

And there was even more good, if modest, economic news.

“In May, average hourly earnings for all employees on private nonfarm payrolls rose by 12 cents, or 0.3 percent, to $37.53. Over the year, average hourly earnings have increased by 3.4 percent. In May, average hourly earnings of private-sector production and nonsupervisory employees rose by 8 cents, or 0.2 percent, to $32.31.”

The best news is that this was not just one good month. March 2026 was revised up by 29,000 jobs, from 185,000 to 214,000, and April was revised up by 64,000, from 115,000 to 179,000. So the prior two months were 93,000 jobs stronger than originally reported. That is probably the most important under-the-hood detail in the report.

And it might stay under wraps. Because many media outlets are basically ignoring that part.

Though it isn’t being widely reported, the upward revisions mark a stark contrast to the Biden years, during which jobs data was routinely inflated — for some reason — then had to routinely be revised down. In some cases, way, way down. 2022 was fairly flat and slightly down, revision-wise. But 2023 and 2024 were revised sharply down.

The final March 2024 benchmark revision was -598,000 jobs, after the preliminary estimate had suggested an even larger -818,000 markdown. BLS’s benchmark table also shows March 2023 at -187,000 and March 2022 at +506,000.

Then came the huge March 2025 benchmark revision. The March 2025 seasonally adjusted payroll level was revised down by 898,000, and the not-seasonally-adjusted level was revised down by 862,000. That period runs April 2024 through March 2025, so it overlaps heavily with Biden’s final year.

It was a fun pattern— publish rosy, inflated news about job growth, shout it to the heavens, then, when the numbers had to be revised down, bury the news on page 13 in hopes no one would notice.

Why media outlets allowed — helped? — the Biden Administration to game the system in this way, intentionally or otherwise, is a mystery as deep as why media outlets allowed top Democrats in Biden’s inner circle to conceal his infirmity and unfitness for so long.

That makes today’s May 2026 report a real contrast.

In this report, BLS revised March 2026 up by 29,000 and April 2026 up by 64,000, for a combined +93,000 upward revision. The BLS revision table also shows 2026 has been mixed so far: January was ultimately revised up +30,000, February down -64,000, March up +36,000, and April has already been revised up +64,000 at the second estimate stage.

Will the robust job growth continue?

Even the world’s foremost economic experts can’t know for sure.

Will plenty of media outlets continue to downplay 2026 economic successes at every opportunity in order to “Get Trump”?

Without a doubt.

(Contributing writer, Brooke Bell)