Jobs Data: If The Government Says It's Sunny, You Know It's Raining
The Bureau of Labor Statistics touts 216,000 payroll additions for the month of December on a seasonally adjusted basis (i.e. manipulation of the numbers). The unadjusted numbers show that the economy trimmed payroll during the month of December. Further, labor participation declined.
The Labor Force Participation rate declined to 62.5% in December from 62.8% in November.
