The news that the economy added just 96,000 jobs in August will
be hotly debated by both sides in the remaining weeks of the
presidential campaign, but one thing is almost certain: The
number is wrong. Only once in the past three decades has the
government not revised its estimate of how many jobs were
created in a given month. It usually takes many weeks, and
sometimes years, before economists settle on the most accurate
figure. Over the past three years, the employment report has
understated how many jobs were created by as much as 99,000 and
overstated it by as much as 86,000. The nation dwells on the
number when it comes out, but nobody pays attention when the
number is updated. Although the figure released Friday, Sept. 7,
is highly unlikely to be correct, it does confirm a trend of
tepid job growth and suggests that the economy is neither
collapsing nor growing vigorously. "The initial number is
important, but the data the initial number is based on are
incomplete, so the number will be revised as soon