Another Look at the Monthly Jobs Report
Gust post by Ed Butowsky
The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics released its monthly Employment Situation Summary on Friday, Sept 3 at 8:30 a.m. Eastern Time. Here’s the first paragraph, with a bit of editing on my part:
Total nonfarm payroll employment rose by 235,000 in August, and the unemployment rate declined by 0.2 percentage point to 5.2 percent, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. So far this year, monthly job growth has averaged 586,000. In August, notable job gains occurred in professional and business services, transportation and warehousing, private education, manufacturing, and other services. Employment in retail trade declined over the month.
So once again, the monthly “Job Report” came out and the media did what the media always does: Regurgitate the press release and recite the numbers – the same old blah blah blah – without providing so much as a shred of context.
