More numbers-fudging: new jobless claims 467k vs. 726k, page 1
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Topic started on 8-1-2009 @ 09:33 AM by anachryon
The news this morning brought the most recent week's figures for new jobless claims. This is the number of people filing a new claim for unemployment after being laid off.

As per
Bloomberg:
The number of Americans collecting unemployment benefits surged to a 26-year high as the labor market worsened in a yearlong recession.

Initial jobless claims unexpectedly fell by 24,000 to 467,000 in the week that ended Jan. 3, the lowest level in almost three months, the Labor Department said today in Washington. The total number of people getting benefits rose a week earlier to 4.6 million, the most since 1982.


Initial jobless claims fell in spite of the fact that continuing claims - meaning people who are collecting unemployment for at least 2 weeks - went up.

That sounded strange to me, so I went looking. And what did I find? The Department of Labor has an interesting news release posted. Please note that this link appears to be static, so the text will most likely change.
In the week ending Jan. 3, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 467,000...
The advance number of actual initial claims under state programs, unadjusted, totaled 726,420 in the week ending Jan. 3...


...just how much seasonal adjustment is going on here? 259,420 new claims for unemployment benefits were adjusted away?? A quarter of a million newly unemployed people were "seasonally adjusted" to provide a better than expected benchmark number to feed to the press?
If actual initial claims, according to the Department of Labor itself, numbered 726k, why isn't that number the one reported?

Interesting.

Something else to keep in mind are the ever-growing reports of state unemployment systems being overwhelmed all over the country, from coast to coast. Phone lines are jammed, state websites are crashing, and somehow we're expected to believe new claims have gone down? Whatever!!
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