Initial jobless claims were at 601,000 last week


Can you figure out what these unemployment numbers mean? The headline reads that initial claims for state unemployment insurance benefits fell 24,000 to 601,000. This is being hailed as a piece of good news because analysts were expecting claims to drop to 615,000. In all fairness claims were down from the 621,000 the previous week.

The number of people staying on the unemployment rolls after collecting their initial week of unemployment rose to 6.82 million in the week ending May 30th.


The four-week average for new claims, which smooths out the numbers, fell to 621,750, the lowest since February 14.

With almost seven million people officially unemployed, it is difficult to say that this small blip in the number really signals any meaningful improvement. Add to these numbers the number of underemployed that the number could be almost double the official rate.

We have two major elephants on the table. One is the housing market and the other is unemployment. Neither seems to be making much progress. While we see a slight improvement here and there, we have yet to see anything that approaches a real turnaround in the economy. Even the Federal Reserve Beige Book said that the economy "remained weak or deteriorated further."

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