So, about those unemployment numbers... 
"There are lots of field staff who had a tried and true way of asking questions and they were doing what they were used to doing."
--former BLS commissioner
"I don't imagine the forecasting methodology is quite equipped for this level of crazy."
--me, yesterday
--former BLS commissioner
"I don't imagine the forecasting methodology is quite equipped for this level of crazy."
--me, yesterday
One of my tasks in my former job was to provide BLS with a head count each month, as many thousands of people in the private sector do. I had a sneaking suspicion that the usual and customary was going to groan under the strain of the shutdown.
And if you need further proof that the stock market is totally insane, and completely divorced from both the job market and reality, the DJIA gained 829 points Friday, and yet aftermarket trading is only down 12. That's completely nuts.
ICYMI: "The unemployment rate fell to 13.3% in May [per BLS]. The agency admitted the real...rate likely exceeds 16%. That’s due [to] an error in how furloughed workers were treated in the data sample. April’s unemployment rate would have been nearly 20% absent that same error."
Dear Leader is going to lose his shit.
Will he blame it on Deep State operatives at BLS? Will he simply ignore the BLS footnote? Or maybe start ranting about outlawing flag-burning?
I'm going to put my money on him picking a nasty fight with a female politician.
