When President Donald Trump tapped economist EJ Antoni to head the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the elites in Washington clucked their thick tongues. Antoni might have a doctorate in economics, but he’s not “widely recognized”! He’s tweeted some things that turned out wrong! Worse still, he seems to like Trump!
But on Friday, the BLS proved once again why it is in desperate need of an overhaul by an outsider such as Antoni.
When it released its monthly jobs report on Friday, the BLS said the economy had created 22,000 jobs in August – a weak number that generated countless headlines.
But who knows what the actual number is? These days, you could throw a dart at a wall while blindfolded and be as accurate as this agency.
In each monthly report, the BLS revises the previous two months’ numbers as additional data come in.
You’d think that these revisions would be rather small, given the massive size of the survey it conducts each month – more than 100,000 businesses and government agencies.
You’d be wrong.
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