Could someone explain these numbers to me?

Sorry...I didnt go to an ivy league school or anything like that, but they say unemployment dropped from 10.2% to 10% yet the entire economy lost 11k jobs. So i guess i just dont understand the math. Dont you have to GAIN jobs for unemployment to go down?

I guess the government could be counting mexicans that are leaving the US to go to mexico in hopes of getting a job there. But even then, about 300k of them would have to leave with no new ones coming back in.
 
Quote from peilthetraveler:

Sorry...I didnt go to an ivy league school or anything like that, but they say unemployment dropped from 10.2% to 10% yet the entire economy lost 11k jobs. So i guess i just dont understand the math. Dont you have to GAIN jobs for unemployment to go down?

I guess the government could be counting mexicans that are leaving the US to go to mexico in hopes of getting a job there. But even then, about 300k of them would have to leave with no new ones coming back in.

Read the link I posted here: http://www.elitetrader.com/vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=184664

It should help clear that up for you.
 
Legitimate question . . . until you realize that the government controls the reporting of both numbers.

Likely answer: probably because there are a lot more than 11k seasonal jobs added that skew the umemployment survey numbers . . . or maybe a whole lot of people died who are no longer part of the labor force - the inverted baby boomer paradox perhaps :).
 
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