Unemployment Insurance Claims Do Provide Information

It used to be common for stories in the business press to make a big deal out of the weekly unemployment insurance claims numbers. And, it used to be common for me to beat up on them for exaggerating the importance of a weekly number that is highly erratic and subject to large revisions.

On the other hand, these numbers do provide information, especially when we see a trend over a number of weeks. That has been the case in the last five weeks as the average weekly claims number reached a recovery low.

For some reason the media no longer seems to be paying attention to these numbers. If they were, then they would not have been surprised by the 163,000 job growth reported for July.

Dr. Baker trounces the consensus
written by Robert Salzberg, August 03, 2012 11:41

Did anyone else catch The Daily TIcket clip yesterday when Dr. Baker nailed the jobs numbers released today?

http://finance.yahoo.com/blogs...06868.html

Selective reporting.
written by Michiganmitch, August 03, 2012 12:17

Most certainly the emphasis by the MSM will be the uptick in the unemployment rate to 8.3% rather than an increase of 163,000 jobs. Curious that Bushbots cheerfully claimed 54 months of jobs growth that included months where less than 30,000 new jobs were created. Didn't seem to bother them then.

About the 8.3
written by oli3, August 03, 2012 12:25

My impression of the uptick to the 8.3 number is that a small number of people who were no longer being counted because they fell out of the the work force (i.e., ran out the end of their benefits) have come back by finding a job. - or they have started looking again. Is that a correct assumption?

Your Fame
written by James, August 03, 2012 2:02

Your appearance on Ed had your tie a little bit off to the right?

Beside powdering and fixing hair, the stylist didn't catch that snaffu?

Unemployment Insurance Claims Do Provide Information

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