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the monthly jobs report. There's almost always a discrepancy.
The former is just a survey. It catches the self-employed, which would otherwise be less visible. It's also more attuned to what happens with small businesses between months when employer reports are due.
The jobs report has to make estimates because not every employer has to file every month. That's the reason for adjusting the monthly job reports retroactively.
In the last 4-5 years, the household survey's pretty much always said there were more jobs created than the job report; this is usually taken as evidence that the household survey is wrong. Now that the household survey shows there were fewer jobs created (if I can refer to "negative job creation" that way), I assume it'll suddenly be taken as the gold standard. Unless, of course, it shows more jobs created next month.
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