Courtesy of Mish.
Initial Reaction
This month sported another amazing difference between the household survey and the payroll survey. The difference is so vast that looking at the numbers in isolation, one might think the results were from two different countries.
The headline number from the payroll survey beat expectations by a mile with 288,000 jobs, but beneath the surface, the household survey shows employment declined by 73,000.
April BLS Jobs Statistics at a Glance
- Nonfarm Payroll: +288,000 – Establishment Survey
- Employment: -73,000 – Household Survey
- Unemployment: -733,000 – Household Survey
- Involuntary Part-Time Work: +54,000 – Household Survey
- Voluntary Part-Time Work: -330,000 – Household Survey
- Baseline Unemployment Rate: -0.4 at 6.3% – Household Survey
- U-6 unemployment: -0.4 to 12.3% – Household Survey
- Civilian Non-institutional Population: +181,000
- Civilian Labor Force: -806,000 – Household Survey
- Not in Labor Force: +988,000 – Household Survey
- Participation Rate: +0.2 at 62.8 – Household Survey
Additional Notes About the Unemployment Rate
- The unemployment rate varies in accordance with the Household Survey, not the reported headline jobs number, and not in accordance with the weekly claims data.
- In the past year the population rose by 2,260,000.
- In the last year the labor force rose by 62,000.
- In the last year, those “not” in the labor force rose by 2,203,000
- Over the course of the last year, the number of people employed rose by 1,993,000 (an average of 166,000 a month)
The population rose by over 2 million, but the labor force was essentially flat. People dropping out of the work force accounts for much of the declining unemployment rate.
April 2014 Employment Report
Please consider the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) April 2014 Employment Report.
Total nonfarm payroll employment rose by 288,000, and the unemployment rate fell by 0.4 percentage point to 6.3 percent in April, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Employment gains were widespread, led by job growth in professional and business services, retail trade, food services and drinking places, and construction.
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