What is totally whacked is the household survey says we added 629,000 jobs ... why is there such a huge difference
we have this debate every time. the household numbers count someone who says "i have a job", when what they really do is sell stuff on EBAY. they also count people who are consultants, but spend 6 months actually receiving a salary, and 6 months of the year trying to find their next position.
The Payroll figure is an indicator of Economic expansion.(Business adding NEW positions.)
Is that true?
Also, anyone who believes this is not terrible news for Bush and the GOP is whistling past the graveyard. The media will hammer this for the next 6 weeks, further depressing consumers. It is exactly what they wanted.
Thank you, corporate America, for not giving this wonderful President a break.
Here's my take on this. Example - my son. Worked for Intel for 4 months and hated the job. Boring. Quit and started his own business. Statistically from a corporate employment standpoint he's unemployed. From a household survey standpoint is employed.
Another factor - when working for corporate America ALL of your income is subject to tax and you can't write off anything. Unless your upper management with bennies, most of your stuff like transportation, cell phones and like are not deductible. Now become self-employed with a company. You can write off job related transportation (just about every where you go and your vehicle lease), communications expenses (cell, fax, etc), job related meals (when do you not eat and work?) and a portion of your house expenses. Household survey's would capture this employment.
I'm wondering if this is the major cause of the disconnect between the two data points.