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According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, there were 142,800,000 people employed in the United States in December 2005.

That's a large number.  It's a lot of working people.

Meanwhile, economists and (armchair economists) debate the bejesus out it, looking for deeper meaning.

This month, markets expected an increase of 200,000 jobs in the national payroll.  This would have represented 0.14 percent of the total workforce.  Instead, the reported number fell short, clocking in at 108,000 jobs, or 0.0756 percent.

In other words, of the 142-plus million workers, zero-pont-zero-seven-five-six percent of them are new to payrolls. 

It's amazing that the non-farm payrolls figure is measurable at all.

Dan Green is an active loan officer. Email or call 513-443-2020. Dan is on Twitter at @mortgagereports.