The household data is a statistical sample to give us an idea what percentage of people who want work are working. It's value is that a low number is an indicator of a labor shortage and can provoke policy changes such as easing immigration restrictions or toughening welfare rules to prevent inflation. It's also a statistic with a margin of error. For example a 0.1 % margin of error would represent something like 100,000 jobs. I don't know what the actual error is but I'd guess its a few hundredth's to a few tenths. My best guess would be in the 0.05 to 0.2 % range. I believe Payroll numbers are real totals of jobs reported for social security and/or income tax purposes. It should be the more accurate way to judge job creation.
Regards,
Mark
Current Events » in reply to Jobs
Sampling Versus Total Data Set
The whole thread (22 posts)
- Weren't we told the tax cuts would create jobs?
- Yes
- Jobs
- re: Of course the economy was already into a recession when Clinton handed over the White House keys.