Recall last week breathless media accounts of the October Miracle, when jobless claims — California not reporting — suddenly “fell” to January 2009 levels andjustatthe11thhourohohObamanomicsisfinallyworking! I predicted a Linus-in-the-pumpkin-patch embarrassment to come soon and, well, here: “Jobless Claims Unexpectedly Rise to 388,000.”
“Unexpectedly.” There’s that word … again. From the article:
Initial jobless claims–which are a measure of layoffs–were up by 46,000 to a seasonally adjusted 388,000 in the week ended Oct. 13, the Labor Department said Thursday. Economists surveyed by Dow Jones Newswires had forecast 365,000 new applications for jobless benefits last week.
In the previous week, jobless claims dropped by 27,000 because of an unexpected shift in seasonal reporting by one state. That state–California–reported fewer claims than expected, which accounted for the large decrease. There were nearly 5,000 fewer layoffs in the service and retail industries in California for the week ended Oct. 6, according to the Labor Department report.
