By the Editors September 10, 2012
Of all the economic documents the U.S. government releases each month, few garner as much media attention as the jobs report – and with good reason.
The Labor Department’s Employment Situation report, as it is officially known, includes the latest readings on the unemployment rate, the number of workers employed in the U.S., labor force participation, average hourly earnings and the length of the average workweek. The report, typically released on the third Friday after the end of the reference period at 8:30 a.m., provides a picture of what happened in the labor market the month before.
For economists, the report can serve as a proxy for the nation’s economic health, or at least a piece of a larger model. For traders, it offers a hint about the direction of the stock market and another clue in handicapping monetary policy. For jobseekers, the report can be a signal to keep looking, head back to school or switch careers.
At most business and financial news outlets, the jobs report calls for a story. Depending on the numbers, that story could lead the day.
There are two basic approaches to the jobs report story. The first we’ll call a wire story. Here, the point is to report the data released that day and put it in some meaningful context. The second we’ll call an enterprise story. Here, the point is to reveal some longer-term trend in the labor market and use the release mainly as a news peg. (These terms are somewhat dated. Today, many wire services publish first-rate enterprise stories.) Each story has an audience. A well-rounded economics reporter should be able to write both.
The Wire Story
The purpose of the wire story is to deliver the most important data in the jobs report – typically, the unemployment rate or the number of workers added to nonfarm payrolls – quickly and accurately, as well as to offer some context.
Reporters covering their first jobs report should familiarize themselves with the data by reviewing the prior month’s release, which can be found on the website of the Bureau of Labor Statistics. (PDF).
Note that the data most important to the wire story – the number of workers added to nonfarm payrolls and the unemployment rate – are mentioned near the top of the report, along with any revisions to the prior month’s numbers.
Reporters should review the data from the last few months (Tables B-1, B-2, B-3 and B-4) to look for recent trends, such as consecutive months of job gains or losses or consecutive months with an unemployment rate above or below a particular level. (To look back further, use the bureau’s database of employment and unemployment statistics.)
On the morning of the release, reporters should track down a wire service’s consensus estimate for the unemployment rate and the number of jobs added. These consensus figures are the averages of guesses made by economists polled by the wire service. If the new data differ significantly from the consensus estimate, the discrepancy could be worth putting in the lede.
Once the report is released, find the latest data and check for revisions to prior months. Were any streaks extended or broken? Were the data in line with what economists were expecting? Did they surprise or disappoint? Which industries saw the largest job gains or losses? Any of these questions could be the jumping off point for a compelling lede.
Next, call a few economists to ask them what was most surprising about the report. Find out what drove the key change, and ask where the labor market saw the most pressure and why. Make sure to ask about caveats. Was this a typical month, or did something bizarre happen in the labor market that might be skewing the data? Set up these interviews in advance of the report, as many economists will be inundated with calls like yours the moment the data are released.
Here are a few examples of wire-style stories about the August 2012 jobs report. Note that in an election year, the context offered in the lede could be the effect on the opinion of the incumbent.
Job growth cools, posing challenge for Obama, Fed (Reuters)
Hiring slows in August, putting pressure on Fed (AP)
August jobs report: Hiring slows, unemployment falls (CNNMoney)
The Enterprise Story
Every few months, a print or online publication may opt to publish an enterprise story tied to the release of the jobs report. Here, the question is not, “What happened last month?” but rather, “What is going on in the labor market right now?” Reporters begin to answer this question, at least in part, by using the same datasets from the BLS. However, the latest report serves mainly as a news peg. The trend is the thing.
Enterprise stories tied to the jobs report tend to focus on a specific area of the labor market. Common focal points include specific geographical areas, particular industries, gender, race and cohort. Why is hiring picking up on the West Coast? Why can’t high school students get summer jobs anymore? Are prospects fading for the long-term unemployed? Where has minority hiring lagged most since the recession?
Reporters curious about a particular area of the labor market often benefit from chatting with a few labor economists first, even on background. Not only do labor economists track many of these trends themselves, but many can also direct reporters to the datasets most relevant to their theses. They can also speak to what might get one area of the labor market moving again or offer historical examples of similar phenomena or current examples abroad.
Reporters should then track down anecdotes to illustrate how the phenomenon is affecting real people. One rich anecdote can mean the difference between a front-page story and a numbers-heavy blog entry. Labor organizations and staffing agencies can be helpful in putting reporters in touch with particular workers or the unemployed.
Ideally, most of the reporting and writing should be wrapped up a day or two before the release of the jobs report. Once the report is released, the reporter can then fold the latest data into the piece and make any last-minute tweaks.
Here are a few examples of enterprise stories and blog posts tied to the jobs report:
Men See Lowest Participation Rate on Record (WSJ) (blog post)
Working Late, by Choice or Not (NYT)
Why Does Fresno Have Thousands of Job Openings – and High Unemployment? (WP)
This entry was posted on Monday, September 10th, 2012 at 7:35 am. It is filed under Skills and Tradecraft and tagged with bls, economy, journalism, labor, unemployment. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
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