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The big McDonald’s hiring day occurred after the April employment survey. Those saying they affected last month’s great jobs report? They’re McWrong.
When the jobs figures were released this morning, some people pointed to the McDonald’s hiring spree on April 19 as helping boost the numbers of people finding work last month. But that’s not exactly the case.
According to the Department of Labor, employers were surveyed before the massive McDonald’s hiring binge, which led to 62,000 jobs filled in one day. That all means that none of that data was included in this week’s numbers.
(More on TIME.com: This week’s jobs report: not as disappointing as thought)
The problem arises from the way employment numbers are collected. First, the Department of Labor uses two different methods for collecting employment data. There’s the establishment survey (which collects data from business payrolls) and the household survey (which includes the self-employed, unpaid family workers, etc., that aren’t included in the establishment survey). This is often why there’s a discrepancy in employment figures.
The real problem is that a monthly jobs number from these surveys doesn’t include the entire month. For the April jobs figures, employers were surveyed about their payrolls that included April 12, whether it was a bi-weekly or monthly payroll. Because the McDonald’s hiring was a week later, it wasn’t included. But we might see a boost to jobs numbers next month.
(More on TIME.com: Read about the massive McJob creation)