Forget the statistics

Boy, do I have a problem with statistical data that was gathered from telephone surveys. I have an even greater problem when those survey results are used by the media for sensationlized headlines.

I too have read about this supposed "unemployment" landslide and then read reports based on written information furnished from the business community themselves that the number of jobs added in the last decade were greater (by several percentage points) than the country's population growth.

So, why can't the media do a better job of putting such headlines in perspective? We're getting tired of the stock market emotional slides such panic stories seem to create.

In Response To:

PHILADELPHIA – That rasping noise you hear is the sound of economists around the nation scratching their heads over Friday’s jobs report from the U.S. Department of Labor.

The economy continued to lose jobs – 20,000 last month – while the number of employed people rose by 541,000.

The unemployment rate dropped to 9.7 percent, but the number of jobs lost since the start of the recession was revised upward to 8.4 million from 7.2 million.

Many sectors show increased hiring, but the number of people unemployed for more than 27 weeks rose to an unprecedented 6.3 million and the average period of joblessness lengthened to 30 weeks.