(PCC)Get this. There’s a hidden engine of job growth the government has ignored and is not telling you the full story! The importance of jobs cannot be overstated; without employees, any economy would collapse. However, what exactly is the secret propellant behind the jobs report?

Each month, headlines light up with the latest U.S. jobs report, how many positions were added, where unemployment stands, and what that means for the economy. In May, the U.S. added a better-than-expected 139,000 jobs, and the unemployment rate held steady at 4.2%. On the surface, that sounds like a win. But behind the curtain, these numbers tell only part of the story and leave out the real engine of economic growth: small businesses.

The jobs report is nothing more than a flawed metric because jobs without a business context polarize the reader to believe the only important thing in the economy is jobs, which is just not true!

The creation of jobs is not an isolated event. For every job, there’s an employer to grow, invest, and hire. Yet the monthly jobs report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics focuses heavily on employment data without giving equal weight to the business dynamics that fuel those jobs, particularly small business growth.

Employees are the driving force behind industry, while businesses serve as the foundational support that sustains it.

Small businesses account for nearly half of all private-sector employment in the U.S. and create about two-thirds of new jobs. However, there’s no monthly “small business growth report” that gets national coverage. Reports track how many people are employed, but not how many new businesses were started, how many expanded, or how many closed due to regulatory, financial, or labor challenges. That’s a massive blind spot in how we evaluate economic health.

Is there a blind spot, or does the government just not want you to pay attention? Matthew Nestler, a senior economist at KPMG, recently warned of a “soft underbelly” in the job market. While the topline numbers look strong, deeper trends, like declining labor force participation and layoffs that haven’t hit the books yet paint a less rosy picture. These shifts are often first felt by small businesses, who rely on flexibility and affordable labor to stay afloat.

It is painfully obvious why the government tends to ignore and even bury small businesses. So why does the government focus so much on employment numbers and not on the businesses behind them?

Taxes. Simply put, employees are easier to tax, track, and regulate. Employers are required to withhold Social Security, Medicare, and income taxes from workers’ paychecks. Employees file W-2s and typically have fewer deductions than business owners, who can use tax code strategies to reduce taxable income. From the government’s perspective, the employee is the ideal taxpayer: predictable, steady, and visible.

Business owners, on the other hand, operate in a more complex financial environment. They may take losses, reinvest profits, or use legal strategies to minimize taxes. Some years they pay little or nothing, despite creating jobs and driving economic growth.

The facts are clear. The government needs employees for both revenue and control. That’s not a conspiracy; it’s a reality of how modern tax and regulatory systems are built. Employees provide steady income for programs like Social Security and Medicare. Their income is visible and taxable from Day 1. Businesses, while vital, are harder to regulate and more unpredictable in tax yield.

That’s not to say workers aren’t essential; they absolutely are necessary. But the system keeps them on a short leash, favoring policies that generate consistent payroll tax income over those that foster long-term entrepreneurial growth.

What’s missing is a national business growth scorecard, something the government doesn’t want you to know. If society wants an accurate picture of economic health, then regular, high-profile reporting on business formation, entrepreneurial growth, and small business health, not just employment, is quintessential.

• How many new businesses are being started each month?
• What are their survival rates?
• Are small businesses hiring or shrinking their workforce?
• What barriers are preventing expansion?

Until society gives equal attention to these questions, the same old song and dance will do nothing but keep chasing symptoms, like job counts, without understanding the causes.

Let the truth be known. The monthly jobs report is like measuring the number of fruits on a tree without checking if the roots are healthy. Jobs are important, but they come from business growth, especially small businesses.

It’s time to stop looking at just the fruit and start paying attention to the soil. The health of American entrepreneurship is the real story behind job creation.

Final Word: Employees power industry, but businesses build it.