Let’s face it, people outside the navel-gazing world of economists, bond and currency traders, and financial journalists must shake their heads when, once a month, we obsess with the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ employment report on Twitter and other forums. What a bunch of geeks!

Even so, I was especially pleased that after almost 18 years at Dow Jones and The Wall Street Journal my last day on the job was spent covering that report for the Moneybeat live blog. And it’s not just because of the geeky nostalgia I attach to this monthly routine or even the “payrolls pastries” newsroom tradition inspired by my colleague Kathleen Madigan some years ago. It’s also that the global markets’ obsession with the jobs number is a gauge of the continued, yet challenged, dominance of the United States in global markets.