Crunching the Numbers

Last Friday's monthly jobs report from the Labor Department was hardly good news. Analysts expected the new jobs number to be higher. So why are the government numbers so weak when other economic indicators appear positive?

The problem lies in the way we measure it, according to a post today on USA Today's small-business blog. Pointing to comments from TV commentator and blogger Lawrence Kudlow, USA Today asks: "Which of Labor's two employment measures -- the household survey or the payrolls survey -- more accurately measures changes in jobs?"

It's a long-standing debate among those who try to monitor this stuff. Kudlow argues that the smaller household survey captures small-business job creation that the larger payrolls survey misses. But critics take issue with the household survey's methods: Its figures are based off what indviduals report, while the payroll numbers draw from hard data.