The condition of the labor market is a central focus of policy makers and

households. Let's consider the overall condition of the American market.

Go the website of the Bureau of Labor Statistics, and look at the current

summary of the employment situation of the United States

(

http://www.bls.gov/news.release/pdf/empsit.pdf

).

Speculate in a few sentences before you answer this question -

what percent of employed people in the US do you think are

farmers? Now, look again at table A-8. How many farmers are

there? What percentage is this of the total American employment

as reported by the household survey (see table A for total

employed)? Surprised or not?