UNEXPECTED? Another 386,000 sign up for unemployment benefits

Tyler Durden:

This week the initial claims soared right back to 386K

on expectations of... 365K ..."

 

For once the mainstream media cannot tell a lie:

USA Today: Unemployment claims "jump"

CNN Money: Unemployment claims "up sharply"

AFP: New claims ... "surged sharply higher last week"

 

And then there's al-Reuters: "Jobless claims signal tepid labor market"

The number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment benefits rebounded last week, returning to levels consistent with only modest job growth after a seasonal quirk caused a sharp drop the prior period....

.... "The snapback in the pace of claims should not be particularly surprising as last week's favorable seasonal unwinds," said Millan Mulraine, senior macro strategist at TD Securities in New York.

"However, we believe that the current level of initial jobless filings overestimates the true pace of jobless claims, and should see claims fall back to around 370,000 in the coming weeks."

 

 

Comments

[Mannie Sherberg]

Y' gottta admire the happy-go-lucky nonchalance of some of the so-called experts -- like the impressively titled "senior macro strategist" who finds a silver lining in the thought that claims may decline to "around 370,000 in the coming weeks." Are these guys so enmeshed in numbers that they're incapable of seeing the forest for the trees? Mulraine makes it sound as if 370,000 is a comforting number. But there's nothing soothing or comforting about 370,000 or for that matter any other number. Of course 370,000 would be better than 386,000, but -- good grief! -- we're not talking here about toy soldiers or cartoon characters: we're talking about flesh-and-blood human beings who are out of work -- and in many cases out of hope. The problem with these damn numbers is that they're so anodyne: they leave out all the misery and all the reality of what is, for millions, a desperate situation. The whole country might be better off if, instead of jobless-claim numbers, we were given an honest "despair index." Because that's exactly what many of these jobless folks are experiencing right now: gnawing and prolonged despair.