unemployment trends

Why it's super nuts to watch weekly initial unemployment claims

Last week we declared watching the initial weekly unemployment claims numbers was just nuts. This week we've upped it to super nuts. Why?

Because the numbers are then revised after the press release and there is so much noise in these statistics one cannot jump for joy (or cry in your beer depending) on these reports weekly press statements.

Take this week for example.

In the week ending Sept. 5, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 550,000, a decrease of 26,000 from the previous week's revised figure of 576,000. The 4-week moving average was 570,000, a decrease of 2,750 from the previous week's revised average of 572,750.