Quote:
Originally Posted by Baronvonellis
What's the difference between payroll and labor force? Your saying one is up and one is down in the metro?
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Payrolls are a measurement of people with jobs. Labor force is a measure of people with jobs or looking for jobs. The difference between them is the unemployment rate.
The data is showing that we have more people employed in the metro area this year, but the total labor force (those working plus those looking for work) is actually smaller. This is how the unemployment rate has dropped so far so fast.
Two possible answers: A bunch of people stopped even looking for work and are out of the workforce altogether. Or a bunch of people who were looking for jobs last year (but not employed) moved somewhere else. In reality, its a combination of people getting jobs, people quitting their search and people moving.