U.S. Really Lost Jobs in July

Widely touted job "gain" figures include seasonal adjustments that discount an actual decline of 1.2 million in the number of jobs nationwide

Everyone (including us) is saying this morning that the U.S. economy gained 163,000 jobs last month. Strictly speaking, this is a lie.

In fact, the U.S. economy actually lost 1.2 million jobs last month. There were 134.1 million jobs in June, and 132.9 million jobs in July.