We've all seen the "margin of error" clearly disclosed in the barrage of political polls nearly every night on some news channel. Usually it's printed under the poll results and normally amounts to something like: a sample of 1000 adults was used with a margin of error +/- 3.5%. The margin of error on most of these polls is usually somewhere between +/- 1% to 6%, which, in most cases, means the poll is fairly accurate. But did you know the monthly job numbers also has margin of error? That's right, the number of jobs the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reports each month is actually a survey - and it has a margin of error too, just like any other poll would. Unfortunately, the BLS monthly job numbers' margin of error is never "disclosed" when the numbers are reported or shown on the news networks. Go ahead and see if you can find it or hear it mentioned today when the number is reported by all the news networks - I bet you can't. Now why do you suppose that is? You won't ever see it...(Read Full Post)