But that transformation is simply not reflected when looking at unemployment through the limited lens of the payroll data.

The shocking news that the economy added only 32,000 jobs in July comes from payroll data.

Yet because July's household number was good, suddenly administration officials were telling reporters to look at that number, not the more reliable payroll data.

But the focus of market participants is already seen to be shifting to the payroll data that are scheduled to be released on Friday.

In 1992, the media proclaimed a jobless recovery based on preliminary payroll data.

- Time saving: crewing and payroll data need only be entered once.

The payroll data is based on interviews with 160,000 employers and does not include agricultural workers or the self-employed.

"Everything we've looked at suggests that it's the payroll data which are the series which you have to follow."

We must also remember that the gross employment figure used by the Government is based on payroll data.

The telephone surveys proved to be 100 percent inaccurate when compared to the actual payroll data.