Numbers, numbers, numbers.
It is the first Friday of the month, jobs reporting day, and the most important number is 7.8%. That is the official unemployment rate in the US&A: it does not include those permanently out of the work force because, e.g. they couldn't find work, a bit of legerdemain that under reports the jobless. Whatever, that's the number and it represents the first time the unemployment rate has fallen below 8% in the Obama presidency. This will be taken as political good news for the president although it is the Republican Congress that should get at least partial credit or partial blame as it is Congress that disposes and the president who proposes.
More numbers:
114,000. The number of new jobs added in September.
181,000. The new, revised number for jobs added in July, up 40,000 from the estimate at the time.
142,000. The new, revised number for jobs added in August, up 46,000 from the estimate at the time.
0. Good explanations why the revised figures differ so substantially from the original.
0. Difference the immediately-above makes.
Image: Peoria, Illinois, population 114,000.
