Another Meme Busted beyond Repair

Brad DeLong sends us to Rex Nutting at MarketWatch:

U.S. nonfarm payrolls plunged by an astonishing 533,000 in November, the worst job loss in 34 years, the Labor Department reported Friday.

It’s only the fourth time in the past 58 years that payrolls have fallen by more than 500,000 in a month. Since the recession began 11 months ago, a total of 1.9 million jobs have been lost.

The unemployment rate rose from 6.5% in October to 6.7% in November, the highest jobless rate since October 1993.

Of course, October 1993 was part of a steady decline in the unemployment rate. (Always check those derivatives.)

And it, arguably, gets worse:

In a separate survey of households, the government found that employment fell by 673,000, the largest lost since August 2001. Unemployment rose by 251,000 to 10.3 million, while 637,000 people dropped out of the workforce. [emphases mine]

Anyone else remember when the Household Survey was being pushed by, e.g., Kudlow as the “true measure” of the economy?

Wonder if he’ll do that today.

UPDATE: Can’t tell if he did, but it’s “nice” to know some things never change.