The headline number can go down even with poor job-creation numbers if more workers drop out entirely and the headline number can go up, as it did today, on relatively good numbers.

This jobs report includes a big seasonal estimated offset to account for summertime teacher layoffs, etc. Don't be surprised if today's number of new jobs is quietly revised down this time next month and the overall rate is revised up.

The hidden headline number in the July report is this: the report shows 155,000 people actually gave up looking for work.

That's reflected in the real unemployment rate: 15 percent of the potential workforce can't find work, has given up looking for work or has accepted a part-time job but needs fulltime work. That's about 23 million Americans in a nation with an adult population of about 230 million.