Courtesy of Mish.
Every month (on average), for about a year, there has been a startling discrepancy between employment as measured by the household survey and jobs as reported by the establishment survey.
I believe the discrepancy is yet another Obamacare artifact.
Jobs vs. Employment Discussion
Before diving into the details, it is important to understand limits on data, and how the BLS measures jobs in the establishment survey vs. employment in the household survey.
Establishment Survey: If you work one hour that counts as a job. There is no difference between one hour and 50 hours.
Establishment Survey: If you work multiple jobs you are counted twice. The BLS does not weed out duplicate social security numbers.
Household Survey: If you work one hour or 80 you are employed.
Household Survey: If you work a total of 35 hours you are considered a full time employee. If you work 25 hours at one job and 10 hours at another, you are a fulltime employee.
Recall that the definition of fulltime under Obamacare is 30 hours, but fulltime to the BLS is 35 hours.
Next, consider what happens under Obamacare if someone working 34 hours is cut back to 25 hours, then picks up another parttime job.
Obamacare Effect
Prior to Obamacare
34 hours worked = 1 parttime job household survey…
