S01 · Source School
Read the Footnote
Which sentence in the method changes how the headline should be read?
The headline gets twelve words. The technical note gets the population, seasonal status, revision rule, and exceptions. The footnote is often where the number finally says what it is.
01
Start at the table title
Copy the measure, geography, period, unit, and adjustment status. A table title can prevent more error than another paragraph of commentary.
02
Follow symbols and notes
Find preliminary marks, breaks in series, unavailable cells, revisions, suppressed values, and category definitions. Translate each into a sentence about what the table can support.
03
Return to the headline
Remove any word the table and notes cannot carry. Add the one qualification that changes the interpretation most.
Try to disprove yourself
The strongest honest countercase
A footnote is not automatically evidence of concealment. Technical notes exist because compact tables cannot carry every condition in every cell.
A question to carry
Where have you seen this number travel too far?
Open a BLS release table and technical note. Write the shortest accurate headline you can after reading both.
Transfer test
Wages beat inflation
A chart compares average hourly earnings with CPI-U over twelve months and says workers gained ground.
What must be checked before the claim can travel?
Open the field note
Check worker population, average versus median, hours, nominal or real treatment, CPI population, period, and whether the claim concerns workers as a group or one household.
Direct sources
Inspect the method at BLS
Sources reviewed August 30, 2026. These links establish the bounded methodological statements used above. They do not make BLS responsible for bent.WTF’s instructional framing.