What Recovery?

Excerpt from: The Wall Street Journal

Jobless Claims Rise for Second Straight Week

WASHINGTON—The number of workers filing new claims for jobless benefits surged last week despite expectations of a drop, but a Labor Department economist blamed the increase on technical factors and not on rising layoffs.

The Labor Department said in its weekly report Thursday that initial claims for jobless benefits rose by 24,000 to 484,000 in the week ended April 10.

The previous week's level was left unrevised at 460,000. Economists surveyed by Dow Jones Newswires expected initial claims to decrease by 15,000. This marks the second straight week of increases in initial claims. Last time the increase was blamed largely on the Easter holiday and other seasonal factors. A Labor Department economist said Thursday that this latest rise can also be pegged to lag effects from the spring holidays including Easter and Cesar Chavez Day, which is celebrated in worker-heavy California.

"Volatility is always higher in the weeks surrounding the Easter holiday," the economist said. "I think that the increase you're seeing is much more attributable to administrative factors than economic factors."

The four-week moving average, which aims to smooth volatility in the data to help paint a better picture of the underlying trend, also rose for the week ended April 10. The Labor Department said the four-week moving average went up by 7,500 to 457,750 from the previous week's unrevised average of 450,250.

Total claims lasting more than one week, meanwhile, also saw an increase.

Comments:
Some of the most direct evidence yet that there is no true recovery only happy talk on the part of the Labor Dept and others.

This is more evidence that we have reached the Zero Hour.

Comments

  1. "This is more evidence that we have reached the Zero Hour."

    Yes and the BS is starting to stink up the building.

    ReplyDelete

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