General Real Estate Investing
Market News & Data
General Info
Real Estate Strategies
Short-Term & Vacation Rental Discussions
presented by
![](http://bpimg.biggerpockets.com/assets/forums/sponsors/hospitable-deef083b895516ce26951b0ca48cf8f170861d742d4a4cb6cf5d19396b5eaac6.png)
Landlording & Rental Properties
Real Estate Professionals
Financial, Tax, & Legal
Tax, SDIRAs & Cost Segregation
presented by
![](http://bpimg.biggerpockets.com/assets/forums/sponsors/equity_trust-2bcce80d03411a9e99a3cbcf4201c034562e18a3fc6eecd3fd22ecd5350c3aa5.avif)
1031 Exchanges
presented by
![](http://bpimg.biggerpockets.com/assets/forums/sponsors/equity_1031_exchange-96bbcda3f8ad2d724c0ac759709c7e295979badd52e428240d6eaad5c8eff385.avif)
Real Estate Classifieds
Reviews & Feedback
Updated about 1 year ago on . Most recent reply
![Justin Brin's profile image](https://bpimg.biggerpockets.com/no_overlay/uploads/social_user/user_avatar/2863424/1727115529-avatar-justinbrin.jpg?twic=v1/output=image/crop=500x500@0x0/cover=128x128&v=2)
How accurate is the BLS data?
I'm trying to compare areas by how diversify their economy so I'm looking at the BLS data report for Columbus OH and I see the numbers are a bit off:
The Civilian labor force is 1,120.7 while the Total Nonfarm jobs are 1,157.1 (36k difference).
As much as I understand Civilian labor force is the total potential force and Total Nonfarm is a percentage of the Civilian labor force.
Am I wrong?
Is the data discrepancy due to these two fields come form two different data sources and since this is statistical data then there can be a difference in the data?
(Data source link: https://www.bls.gov/regions/midwest/oh_columbus_msa.htm#eag_...)
![](https://bpimg.biggerpockets.com/no_overlay/uploads/uploaded_images/1701465882-image.png?twic=v1/output=image/quality=55/contain=800x800)
As much as I understand Civilian labor force is the total potential force and Total Nonfarm is a percentage of the Civilian labor force.
Am I wrong?
Is the data discrepancy due to these two fields come form two different data sources and since this is statistical data then there can be a difference in the data?
(Data source link: https://www.bls.gov/regions/midwest/oh_columbus_msa.htm#eag_...)