Does ANYONE believe the job numbers for September?

[vapor2]

[EdmondDantes_]

1. You think they faked the numbers and still came in under break even?

Doesn't really seem worth the effort. Even more so when they revised the previous numbers downward (a common scenario). If they were cooking the books, why do that as well?

[unblock]

2. They're not all that great

The downward revisions canceled 2/3rds of the amount by which September beat expectations.

I don't trust them one bit, but I'd kinda expect that if they were going to fiddle with the numbers, they'd go much bigger.

[imanamerican63]

3. Especially when the government was shutdown!

[bluestarone]

4. No.

[bucolic_frolic]

5. I think a lot is retail temp work for the holidays

Supermarkets are crawling with employees. Trying to engage by saying "hello" every time you get within 4 feet of them.

[FHRRK]

10. Same going on at my local Home Depot

Usually it is self checkout and looking for help.

Been in a few times over the last ten days, multiple workers near the front entrance and main walk.

Was only one waiting for self checkout yesterday and guy hustles over to open register, and all I had was one pack of Velcro picture hangers.

Looking back, I’m concerned, do we have an alien invasion attack disguised as retail workers?

[GCG]

6. Nope!

[Kid Berwyn]

7. The Sharpie pen was a giveaway.

And the Big Mac secret sauce-stained pages were a hint.

[Ritabert]

8. Nope.

[Wiz Imp]

9. If people would read the actual release they would have read this statement at the very beginning

Total nonfarm payroll employment edged up by 119,000 in September but has shown little change since April

For the record, jobs have increased by just 193,000 from April through September. Those are terrible numbers. By far the worst 5 month job growth since the Great Recession (excluding the periods which included February & March 2020 which include huge job losses due to pandemic shutdowns). The average 5-month job growth during expansion periods since the Great Recession has been 1,178,000.

Anyone who believes that Trump would "fake the numbers" in such a way that they admit that jobs have changed little over the the past 5 months I would have to say legitimately have TDS.

It's been pointed out many times, that the statistics put out by the administration can not be faked without it being called out by whistleblowers and statisticians who understand how the data are developed.

Yet many here continue to insist that every number released by the administration must necessarily be fake. Even when those numbers are not positive. The idea that the Trump administration would be publishing fake data and that data would still paint them in a very poor light is insane. I mean, the point in faking the data would be to make the numbers look GOOD. The data the BLS has released this year has not once been better than mediocre and at least 75% of it has been downright BAD.