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Predicting the payroll employment numbers
Most people look forward to Fridays in general, but data analysts and economists eagerly await one in particular: the Friday when the BEA’s employment situation is published. Two headline figures in this release are the unemployment rate and total nonfarm payrolls. These numbers are still subject to revision after their initial release. For example, the payroll numbers are based on about 70% of the surveyed businesses, and that number gradually increases to about 94% through revisions. Thus, relying on this first release to tell the whole story may be a bit premature, given that something could be changed by the ... (full story)