Posted on 08/02/2012 6:53:17 AM PDT by traumer
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The number of Americans filing new claims for jobless benefits rose less than expected last week, but the data continues to be influenced by distortions from seasonal auto shutdowns.
Initial claims for state unemployment benefits rose 8,000 to a seasonally adjusted 365,000, the Labor Department said on Thursday. The prior week's figure was revised up to 357,000 from the previously reported 353,000.
"The claims number is not that bad. There does seem to be some difficulty dealing with the seasonals this time of year whether it's auto plant closures or lack thereof," said Cary Leahey, a senior economist at Decision Economics in New York.
Economists polled by Reuters had forecast claims rising to 370,000 last week. The four-week moving average for new claims, a better measure of labor market trends, fell 2,750 to 365,500, the lowest in four months.
Temporary plant shutdowns by automakers for annual retooling cause wide swings in claims data in July, which makes it difficult to get a clear picture of the labor market's health.
The model used by the government to smooth the numbers for typical seasonal patterns has trouble anticipating the timing of the temporary closures and in addition, some automakers kept production lines running in July.
(Excerpt) Read more at finance.yahoo.com ...
Last week's initial was increased by 4,000, this week's initial beats that number by 8,000 more, for a 12,000 initial-to-initial swing in the wrong direction.
This is reported as, "not that bad!"
Anticipate the unemployment rate to drop as more people abandoning all hope and more shift to disability.
It'll be reported as "good news" anyway and future weeks will again beat expectations as the reelection campaign requires.
#1 They revised last week's number upward by 4,000. So this weeks reported number is 12,000 higher than last weeks reported number. No doubt, this weeks number will be revised upward, so the week to week reported number really shoud be what you look at. Apples to apples and all.
#2 If you were putting out weekly data, and you had to upwardly revise your numbers every week by something in the order of 3000 units, wouldn't you somehow build and extra 3000 units into your weekly reporting? Unless, you, of course, could take advantage of the misreporting.
#3 360,000 new claims every week, this late into a 'recovery' is pathetic. If the economy was on any kind of solid footing, it would be significantly lower. I mean, we have been bleeding jobs now for three and a half to four years now. How many more jobs are there left to lose?
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