The government's unemployment data for August is out. It shows that the US economy created 130,000 jobs. That's compared to the 150,000 forecast of "experts". So what's the headline? Naturally, it is that the job creation number "missed" the forecasts.
That's nonsense. The job creation numbers for a single month come with a margin of error of about 100,000 jobs. In other words, the economy created between 30,000 and 230,000 jobs in August. What that means is that a difference of 20,000 jobs between the "estimates" and the reported number is meaningless. That is true whether the actual number is higher or lower than the estimate.
There were strong numbers for wage growth. Those figures beat the estimates. These numbers are much more exact, so they are more meaningful.
The real takeaway from this month's employment report is that there are no big differences from the past strong trend.
That's nonsense. The job creation numbers for a single month come with a margin of error of about 100,000 jobs. In other words, the economy created between 30,000 and 230,000 jobs in August. What that means is that a difference of 20,000 jobs between the "estimates" and the reported number is meaningless. That is true whether the actual number is higher or lower than the estimate.
There were strong numbers for wage growth. Those figures beat the estimates. These numbers are much more exact, so they are more meaningful.
The real takeaway from this month's employment report is that there are no big differences from the past strong trend.
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