Bingo. Farm employment is interesting to me because the farming industry has been doing well under Bush for the first time, really, since WWII. Also, construction is up big time, and many of the construction jobs are temporary jobs that don't get counted. It's simply the nature of the industry. You work at one job until it's over, and then go to another. A lot of them are self-employed trades as well.
The "Non-Farm Payrolls" report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics used to be a good quick snap-shot of what was happening in the US economy. Since the farm payroll numbers fluctuated around so much, the BLS and the media just kept reporting it as it was more stable.
But the BLS has another report "The Households Survey" which is far more comprehensive. It counts farm employment, partnerships, self-employment etc that the Payrolls numbers do not.
The Household survey counts 149 million jobs while the Payrolls only counts 141 million.
The Household Survey has increased by about 2 million jobs since Bush was elected while the Payroll numbers showed a large decline in 2001 and has never recovered.
Has the media EVER reported the more accurate and more comprehensive Household numbers. I have never seen it.