[lbo-talk] Naive Qs

[Wojtek Sokolowski]

Doug:
> Dunno where the 1.4m figure comes from. According to the BLS's survey
> of households, employment has risen by 1.1m over the last year.
> According to the survey of employers (the "establishment" survey),
> employment has declined by 35,000. According to the BLS, the
> establishment survey is more reliable (larger sample than the HH
> survey, and there are great difficulties involved in expanding the HH
> sample into national figures, because of changes in the population
> between decennial censuses). Normally the difference between the two
> surveys is pretty small, but the discrepancies over the last year or
> two have been unusually wide.

You can also check the data from the Quarterly Census of Employment and
Wages (aka ES-202) that produces near-census quality of employment and
wages covered by the unemployment Insurance (UI).  The last year they
published on line is 2002, but 2003 is coming soon.

Their table at http://www.bls.gov/cew/ew02table1.pdf shows a decline in
employment between 2001 and 2001 by about 1.4 m - all of it in the
private sector (government employment grew in the same time). 

Wojtek