The big number here is the one about jobs and wages. The Wal-Mart economy brings everyday low wages along with its prices, if it brings wages at all. And a huge divide in income distribution. Each store carries with it one well paying job (the store manager) a handful of reasonable jobs (some of the managers), and hundreds of lousy jobs. Meanwhile the manufacturing gets shipped to rural China.
See the LA Times series on Wal-Mart from a few years ago if you don't think this is true.
My instinctive reaction to these numbers (may be nonsense) is that respondents are congratulating themselves on being winners. Most people are employed, even when employment numbers stink. Therefore, most people pat themselves on the back by putting themselves mentally in the "available but hard to find" category.
Will be very interested in more findings. I usually think the interesting information is less in the data than in the interpretaton.
