by Ryan McMaken
Mises.org
The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics released new employment data, with the BLS reporting 225,000 new jobs created, according to the Establishment Survey. A survey of economists by Bloomberg had predicted an increase of 180,000 jobs, so this report beats expectations. The press, not surprisingly, is gushing over the good economic news.
To get a better sense of the jobs situation in context, though, we need to look beyond the headline data and delve more deeply into what the BLS is reporting.
Moreover, it’s important to look beyond the government seasonal adjustments which can be employed to massage the numbers even more than the usually-employed methods.
So, a look at the non-seasonally-adjusted unemployment rate shows an unemployment rate of 5.1 percent for July 2016. That’s compared to 5.6 percent for last year.