Fact Check: Labor Secretary Solis Misleads on Jobs Revisions
Suspicion about the federal government's September jobs report has fallen on Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis, who appeared on CNBC this morning and defended the numbers from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), claiming--falsely--that upward revisions of 86,000 jobs were from the private sector. In fact, the new number is entirely accounted for by upwards revisions to state and federal government payrolls.
The BLS reported that while only 114,000 jobs were created in
September--which would have translated into a rise in unemployment from
8.1% to 8.2%--the unemployment rate fell dramatically to 7.8%. That
unusual drop is the fastest in nearly three decades, and was unexpected
even in the rosiest predictions.
One reason for the rise was an upward revision of 86,000 to the July
and August jobs numbers--all of which came from a 91,000 increase in the
estimate of public sector jobs. Private sector job estimates were
actually revised downward by 5,000.
In addition, the BLS reported a large rise in the number of part-time
jobs, adding 600,000 jobs to the total--a dramatic increase of 7.5%,
not explained by any other economic indicators--and raising questions about whether the government had changed the way it counted part-time workers. (Continues)
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