White House Economist Warns Of Volatile Employment Numbers

Alan Krueger went right to work Friday as the official Chairman of President Obama’s Council of Economic Advisers, reminding Americans not to read to much into the latest employment figures. 

Krueger, whose nomination was unanimously confirmed by the Senate late Thursday night, said in a statement that, although new government data shows that the economy continues to grow, he remains wary the slow pace of recovery is keeping Americans out of work. 

“Despite adverse shocks that have created headwinds for economic growth, the economy has added private sector jobs for 20 straight months,” the statement read. “We need faster economic growth to put more Americans back to work.”

The 80,000 jobs added to the market in October is significantly lower than economists previously predicted. Most notably, the construction sector lost 20,000 jobs, a market Krueger said could have been remedied with the infrastructure bill that was rejected in the Senate earlier this week.

“The report underscores that one area that remains notably weak is the construction sector,” Krueger said. “That’s why it is disappointing that the Senate was not abele to proceed to the infrastructure part of the American Jobs Act.”

Though the nation’s jobless rate fell by a slim margin from 9.1 to 9 percent and the economy added 80,000 jobs, Krueger was adamant in reminding people that monthly figures can be subject to change. Initially, August’s report indicated that the economy added zero jobs. According to Krueger, the number of jobs added in August skyrocketed to 104,000 following a series of revisions. 

“The monthly employment and unemployment numbers are volatile and employment estimates are subject to substantial revision,” Krueger said. “This illustrates why the Administration always stresses it is important not to read too much into any one monthly report.”