The BLS Household Survey Numbers

Since Sec. Snow and Sec. Chao preferred the Household Survey numbers last month, let’s oblige them this month too. This measure has employment rising by only 21,000. President Bush is currently touting the fall in the unemployment rate. But he forget to tell the audience that the reason this rate fell is that the reported civilian labor force fell by 152,000. Finally, the employment to population rate fell from 62.5% in July to 62.4% in August. One has to wonder if Sec. Snow and Sec. Chao will mention these numbers this month.