Employment to Population Ratio Jumps – but Kudlow Fails to Notice?

Has Lawrence Kudlow died or something? OK, the payroll survey showed an employment increase of only 92,000 but the household survey was another matter. Our friend Bill Polley noticed something:

But at the same time, the labor force participation rate climbed a bit last month, back up to 66.1% – where it was in July. The employment to population ratio is at 63% – also the same as its July level. These numbers had dipped a bit in recent months, so this could be a good sign that there still is some strength remaining under the surface.

These figures were 65.9% and 62.7% last month. As BLS noted:

In November, total employment increased by 696,000 to 146.7 million. The employment-population ratio rose by 0.3 percentage point to 63.0 percent; it was still below its most recent peak of 63.4 percent in December 2006. The civilian labor force rose to 153.9 million over the month, and the labor force participation rate edged up to 66.1 percent.

The increase from October to November reported by the household survey usually gets Kudlow screaming from the rooftops that the payroll survey is not a reliable measure (never mind the fact that he was touting the payroll survey over the past few months when the figures from the household survey sort of sucked).

My apologies to AB readers for being late today and thanks to Spencer for filling in. It seems I’m in NYC and I have to on occasion watch Kudlow and his cheap suits on CNBC where the natives are laughing at his serial stupidity even more than I do. But there’s not a peep over at the Corner (NRO) and I’m afraid Larry must have fallen ill or something.