First, they started with the 128,000 net jobs for October — a solid figure that beat expectations. Then, the Labor Department revised up previous reports for August and September by 95,000 jobs, so the White House included that. Meanwhile, Trump's economists added another 60,000 jobs that they said were lost, directly and indirectly, due to the strike by General Motors workers during the survey period.

Finally, they ignored the 20,000 temporary Census employees who were let go after they finished their work — though those Census employees have helped boost jobs numbers in previous reports.

So: 128,000 + 95,000 + 60,000 + 20,000 = 303,000

Got it?

Problem is, economists say there's no reason to parse the data this way.

“The statement makes little sense and is not tethered to any empirical reality,” said Joseph Brusuelas, chief economist at RSM. “Once one takes into account the 95,000 in revisions to the months of August and September, one can plausibly make the claim that there was an increase of 223,000 in total employment implied” in today’s report.

For October specifically, one could add in the formerly striking workers — an estimated 42,000, not 60,000 — and the temporary Census workers, but that still only puts the monthly number around 190,000.

“The financial media should prepare for a lot more gas-lighting on the employment data next year when the Census Bureau is going to hire greater than 500,000 to conduct the decennial census,” Brusuelas said. “Economists, like me, will always interpret the topline change in employment excluding the census, but given what I observed today, I do not expect that out of the White House.”

The decision to inflate the October report comes even after the data generated positive headlines, though wage growth did slow slightly to 3 percent, only about a percentage point higher than the rate of inflation.

For its part, the White House emphasized that the labor market remains strong.

“States across the country continue setting record-low unemployment rates, showing how Federal policies that support economic growth benefit local communities,” the Council of Economic Advisers said in its post. “American workers see these benefits as today’s labor market offers them opportunities to negotiate raises and advance their careers.”