Good times ahead in the working stiff department. Or are there?

The Labor Department’s latest employment report, to be released Friday, is projected to show employers added 405,000 jobs in December and the unemployment rate ticked down to 4.1%, according to economists surveyed by The Wall Street Journal.

4.1%: based on what labor force participation rate? That projection is left unreported, even though it’s a Critical Item in calculating the unemployment rate.

We’ll have to wait a couple of days to find out.