The unemployment rate drops to 9.7%. But, the BLS changed the survey calculations in this latest unemployment report, and had it not been for the ‘new’ changes the unemployment rate is 10.6%.

JAN UNEMPLOYMENT RATE: 9.7% V 10.0%E (Note 10.6% without changes in survey)

- Note: data subject to changes due to new calculation of Unemployment using a household survey, which is said to capture small business data better than the employment survey.

Revisions to Establishment Survey Data

In accordance with annual practice, the establishment survey data have been
revised to reflect comprehensive universe counts of payroll jobs, or benchmarks.
These counts are derived principally from unemployment insurance tax records
for March 2009. As a result of the benchmark process, all data series were
subject to revision from April 2008 forward, the time period since the last
benchmark was established. In addition, with this release, the seasonally
adjusted establishment survey data from January 2005 forward were subject to
revision due to the introduction of updated seasonal adjustment factors.

Table A presents revised total nonfarm employment data on a seasonally adjust-
ed basis for January through December 2009. The revised data for April 2009
forward incorporate the effect of applying the rate of change measured by the
sample to the new benchmark level, as well as updated net business birth/death
model adjustments and new seasonal adjustment factors. The November and
December 2009 revisions also reflect the routine incorporation of additional
sample receipts into the November final and December second preliminary
estimates. The total nonfarm employment level for March 2009 was revised down-
ward by 902,000 (930,000 on a seasonally adjusted basis), or 0.7 percent. The
previously published level for December 2009 was revised downward 1,390,000
(1,363,000 on a seasonally adjusted basis).[…]

Effective with data for January 2010, updated population estimates have been
used in the household survey. Population estimates for the household survey
are developed by the U.S. Census Bureau. Each year, the Census Bureau updates
the estimates to reflect new information and assumptions about the growth of
the population during the decade. The change in population reflected in the
new estimates results primarily from adjustments for net international migra-
tion, updated vital statistics and other information, and some methodological
changes in the estimation process.

We did get the expected huge downward revisions (902,000 additional job losses) but the BLS has once again changed the calculation methodology for this report. Makes it very difficult to compare apples to apples.

The closest I can come to making an equal comparison (before the new calculations) would have the unemployment rate at 10.6%