Survey response rates have decreased significantly since Covid.
"LS surveys firms in the payrolls survey over the course of three months, gaining a more complete picture as more businesses respond. But a smaller share of firms are responding to the first poll. Initial collection rates have repeatedly slid below 60% in recent months — down from the roughly 70% or more that was the norm before the pandemic."[0]
Is that an excuse for bad numbers though? I mean, a revision of a quarter of a million jobs is abnormally large. Yes, because of COVID, etc, etc, times have changed, but if savers are not accurate enough, another method of measurement must be found.
One idea would be to scrape data off of social media sites, or just buy the data from Palantir or something. I'll bet Zuckerberg has a very accurate number of how many jobs were created last quarter.
I'm sure any president from any party would not be happy with employment numbers which were essentially useless. Trump said what he said to get BOTH left and right sides to jump to opposite conclusions. Lets not take the bate.
"LS surveys firms in the payrolls survey over the course of three months, gaining a more complete picture as more businesses respond. But a smaller share of firms are responding to the first poll. Initial collection rates have repeatedly slid below 60% in recent months — down from the roughly 70% or more that was the norm before the pandemic."[0]
[0] https://archive.is/84YPk