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MARCH 15, 2019
JOB HYPE
 
The numbers come out like clockwork, the first Friday of the month, and they're among the most closely watched statistics the federal government releases. Each month, the jobs report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics sizes up the state of the economy. Think of the report as a monthly economic pulse taking, which talks about who's working and how much – as well as who's hiring, and in what sectors.
 
The jobs numbers are among our favorite federal statistics here at USAFacts, simply because they tell us so much about how we're doing as a nation. So we've built an interactive dashboard that allows you to delve even more deeply into the job numbers each month. From our dashboard, for example, you can see that the number of people who are working part-time but want full-time employment has been trending downward since the recession 10 years ago. 
 
The most recent numbers alarmed many economic observers. Just 20,000 jobs were added to the economy, prompting this question from the Motley Fool investment site: "Was seasonality, weather, or President Trump's government shutdown to blame – or is the data just incomplete?" Neil Irwin, the senior economics correspondent at the New York Times, called the numbers a "clunker of a job growth report." And the Washington Post tied the numbers to the immigration debate, noting that a recent report showed that a third of new jobs went to immigrants.
 
As with all numbers, though, interpretation is key. FiveThirtyEight suggests that the jobs report might "overhyped," in part because revisions to the numbers don't get as much attention as the initial report does at the start of the month. And one thing to always keep in mind about jobs numbers: The unemployment rate does not include individuals who are less active in their job search, or who may have given up searching but would like a job if offered one. 

While the reasons behind the numbers may be open for discussion, the data is not. Dig into our Dashboard and start exploring the data today!
NEW YEAR, NEW ANNUAL REPORT
Keep an eye out for the USAFacts annual report, coming soon! (Here's last year's report.) We'll release our third annual assessment in mid-April. Each year, we take a look at the most recent data on government finances, government outcomes activities, and population trends.
Copyright © 2019 USAFacts, All rights reserved.


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