Hi, I'm Erica Pandy, and welcome to Axios Recap, where we dig into one big story.

It's Friday, December 3rd, and we're focused on the tale of two jobs reports.

This morning, the Bureau of Labor Statistics put out the November jobs report, which surveys employers.

That report told us 210,000 new jobs were created last month, and that was way, way below

economist's expectations of 550,000 new jobs.

But at the same time, the Bureau released its survey of households, and that told us that the unemployment rate has plunged to 4.2%, well below

expectations of 4.5%. So on the one hand, the labor market is anemic, And on the other, America's job market is hot?

These conflicting snapshots of the economy come as the Federal Reserve continues to grapple with

inflation and whether it should raise interest rates to deal with rising prices. So how can these

two reports exist at once? And which one tells the more accurate story of our economy?

And how should the Fed, which relies on this economic data to make decisions, look at today's numbers?

In a moment, I'll be joined by Catherine Rampel, an economic columnist for the Washington Post, to answer those questions, and to dive into how the Fed might respond.

We're joined now by Catherine Rampel, Economic Calmness for the Washington Post.

Hey, Catherine.

Hey, good to be here.

So let's dive right in.

What did this morning's jobs numbers tell us and how are people reacting?

It was kind of a mixed report.

On the one hand, the hiring

numbers were much lower than it had been forecast. They had been expected to come in around

550,000 or so new jobs added on net across the economy. Instead, we got 210,000. That comes from

one survey of employers. The other survey, which is done of households,

...