Policy

Who Will Count the Counters?

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According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, employment grew by 431,000 jobs in May. This morning President Obama said "these numbers…mean…we're moving in the right direction," because "the economic policies that we've put in place are working." Since 95 percent of the net gain in jobs is due to temporary Census Bureau positions, the point is debatable. But it does jibe with the logic of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, which counts every 520 hours of goverment-compensated work in a quarter as a job created saved funded. Think how much healthier the economy would be if we had a census every year. For that matter, why not every month?