Padded Payrolls

They came at night leaving fear behind
Shadows were on the ground
Nobody knew where to find him
No evidence was found
--Phil Collins

Today's payroll number came in nearly 4x the consensus estimate to the upside. As is normally the case in these situations, one has to look under the hood to see what is going on.

As reported by ZeroHedge, the entire difference between the consensus estimate and the reported figure lies in 'adjustments' to the raw number.

The BLS secretary predictably "stands behind" the number, arguing that it is "credible."

Biden administration taps the secretary on the shoulder and says give us an upside surprise.

After all, what are government-controlled measurement systems for?