Another trick the Poodle uses is that he only uses the establishment survey for his jobs numbers. The establishment survey counts only payroll jobs at large to medium sized companies. It does not count jobs held by people who work as independent contractors such as consulting positions, realators, etc. It also does not count people who are self-employed. The household survey simply asks people if they are employed and thus counts people with jobs that are not counted by the establishment survey. I don't have the data, but I believe that the household survey indicates that there has been a net increase in the number of jobs during the last 4 years.