JOBS: Discrepancy in two reports

On Thursday, Aug. 1 the Fed reported 160,000 new jobs in the month of July. The next day, Friday the 2nd, the Business section of The Press ran a story entitled “More people finding work” in which it reported that Idaho employers had hired 23,400 workers in July. If my math is correct that would indicate that Idaho was responsible for hiring approximately 15 percent of all new employees in the U.S. in July. Seems highly improbable that the 12th smallest state hires 1/7th of the workforce in any given month.

MERLE TOURNEY

Hayden

Editor’s note: Merle’s math is correct, but the premise is a little off. Here’s how Alivia Metts of the Idaho Department of Labor explains it:

There is a difference in the “Jobs Report” that is reported every month and the “New Hire” report.

The New Hire report is based on employer filings of newly hired workers within 20 days of their hiring. The data come from Idaho employers. Idaho’s new hire reporting law was passed in 1997 to help the government find parents delinquent in paying child support. More recently, the report is being used to provide insight into the health of the state’s economy.

The Jobs Report is a national report on nonfarm employment based on data from the Current Employment Statistics program (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics). The survey counts all workers (not just newly hired) on the payroll during that month (technically within the pay period including the 12th of the month).

The 162,000 new jobs reported by BLS are net added jobs, not new hires. Idaho’s New Hire report could be compared at the national level from BLS’ Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey: http://www.bls.gov/jlt/. According to the latest report (May 2013), there were 4,441,000 new hires nationwide. A state Labor Department press release last week said that “From October 2008 through May 2012, new hires averaged 14,500 a month” in Idaho, which equates to 0.3 percent of the nation’s new hires. That’s more like it!