Last month many hear were trashing the payroll survey as unreliable when numbers came in below expectations.
The payroll survery IS unreliable in that it does not report a full picture of employment, only a large segment.
They pointed to the household survey as the one to watch.
It's kind of volatile, but that would be nice, since we would've gotten the +600k number last month PLUS the UE drop this .... but the media fixates on the payroll survey so that's where the attention goes.
This month the payroll numbers are up and the report seems to carry more credence with Freepers.
Because it is the one the media focuses on and has been a yardstick by which they measure Bush.
Strangely, little is heard about the household survey which was relatively flat.
Helloooooooo, the household survey is the one showing unemployment dropping to 5.4%.
I agree that the payroll survey is unreliable. The fact that the revisions were so large is an indication that the preliminary releases are unreliable. I was just noting that general perception of its worthiness here on FR seems to vary with directly with the number of new payroll jobs posted.
If the media and the markets focus on the payroll number, then its fair enough to trumpet it when it is up. Just don't complain that the media is ignoring the household survey when the payroll numbers don't go your way, which is what happened last month.
>>>>Strangely, little is heard about the household survey which was relatively flat.
>>Helloooooooo, the household survey is the one showing unemployment dropping to 5.4%.
Yes, but the 21,000 job growth is being ignored, whereas last month's 600,000 job growth was all the rage.