This morning I was shocked SHOCKED that the Morning Joe team came to such a quick conclusion that this morning's labor report numbers "don't add up." Then they pass on the idiotic Jack Welch conspiracy tweet. This despite all of them admitting that they don't know about economics.
This is just a quick diary to give a very basic answer -- one I haven't heard people make clearly.
The 7.8% unemployment rate comes from the Current Population Survey (CPS) - "a monthly survey of households conducted by the Bureau of Census for the Bureau of Labor Statistics."
The +114,000 payroll number comes from the Current Employment Statistics (CES) a survey of "about 141,000 businesses and government agencies, representing approximately 486,000 individual worksites, in order to provide detailed industry data on employment, hours, and earnings of workers on nonfarm payrolls."
DIFFERENT SURVEYS, FOLKS! The 114,000 number and the 7.8% number don't have to add up. Furthermore, there have been several recent upwards adjustments in the employment situation -- reflecting that for some reason, recent employer surveys have been undercounting jobs.
Please spread this far and wide to counter the Jack Welch idiots of the world.
