Was it indeed something new for recent months, a “strong employment report,” published on May 8 by the Bureau of Labor Statistics? This sentence, taken directly from the BLS detail list in the report, should settle that: “Total nonfarm payroll employment edged up by 115,000 in April, after showing little net change over the prior 12 months.”
Since some growth in jobs has been reported in most of the past six months, that sentence is squared by considering that “downward revisions” occurred in the succeeding two months, in almost all cases, so that for the last twelve months there hasn’t been any growth to speak of.
Now already, from that 115,000 total growth claimed in April must be deducted a combined −26,000 “downward revision” from the February and March reports. And so: we’ll see, after the two revisions of the April 115,000, whether anything remains.
