Should Reuters even bother to poll financial “analysts”?

Number of jobs lost in November: 533,000

Number of jobs lost in November as predicted by “analysts polled by Reuters”: 340,000

It's their job to predict job losses and analysts weren't even in the ballpark? Seems like the mainstream press, including Reuters, needs to expand its roster of trusted/acceptable sources as they cover the Great Recession. The media's beloved financial “analysts,” the same CW crew that journalists have depended on for years, and who warned of a “mild recession,” no longer seem to have a clue.