How did the unemployment rate manage to drop so much when the job gain was so weak? The reason relates to a little-known fact about the government's monthly jobs report: The government conducts one survey to learn how many jobs were created and another to determine the unemployment rate. The household survey, unlike the payroll survey, captures farm workers, the self-employed and people who work for new companies. Most Americans focus more on the unemployment rate, which comes from the household survey. But economists generally prefer the jobs figure from the payroll survey.

Source: ABC News April 07, 2017 18:33 UTC