January 14, 2011
Yeah, well it’s not really very funny, but you should have been able to read about the big jump in UI claims last week. These data are erratic, and it is only one week, but after a couple of weeks in which news outlets were eagerly touting lower claims numbers, to be consistent they should have given this jump some attention.
Claims had hit a low for the upturn of 391,000 in the week after Christmas before rising back to 410,000 last week. This was still good news compared to the 450,000 levels we had been seeing in the summer and early fall. After the last recession, the economy was not creating any jobs until weekly claims fell below 400,000. Certainly claims in the 450,000 range would not be consistent with robust jobs growth.
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