Goldman: Government Not Cooking the Books on Jobs
Conspiracy theorists take note: Goldman Sachs says the government isn’t fudging the jobs report.
Former General Electric CEO Jack Welch sparked a spirited debate in the Twittersphere this morning when he essentially blamed the Obama administration for making the unemployment rate look better than it actually is.
Goldman Sachs chief U.S. economist Jan Hatzius isn’t buying the conspiracy theory.
“For the most part, this looks like a genuine move,” he says in a note to clients this morning following the employment report. “It comes alongside large increases in both the labor force (+418,000) and the tally of jobs in the survey of households (+873,000) of which 187,000 was due to government.”
Others have also come out with similar theories. A former head of the U.S. government’s labor statistics agency said even if the U.S. government wanted to manipulate monthly jobs figures, it would be impossible to accomplish....MORE
