Courtesy of Mish.
Initial Reaction
Today’s job report (for July) once again showed a divergence between the household survey and the establishment survey.
The divergence was not as large as last month, but was in the same usual direction: The establishment survey was stronger than the household survey.
Household survey employment rose by 101,000 while the establishment survey shows an increase of 215,000 jobs.
Last month the household survey showed a decline in employment of 56,000 while the establishment survey shows a gain of 233,000 jobs.
Part-Time Employment -760,000
One huge standout in the household data was a huge drop in part-time employment. Involuntary part-time employment declined by 180,000 while voluntary part-time employment shrank by 589,000.
The decline of 180,000 in involuntary part-time employment was enough to knock the U-6 unemployment rate down by 0.1% to 10.5%.
To show the volatility in this series, last month, voluntary part-time employment rose by 519,000 while part-time for economic reasons declined by 147,000.
Did 760,000 people really gain full-time employment from part-time status? No chance, but there’s the number.
Note that last month’s rise in voluntary part-time employment of 519,000 nearly matches this month’s decline by 589,000.
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