Dave Lindorff - Unemployment Mumbo Jumbo
March 7, 2012
The US stock market jumped up today on word that the number of new unemployment applications fell to the lowest level in four years.
Sounds good, right? It’s meant to sound good, but if you look at the number, and if you think about what it really means, it’s not good news at all.
What the US Labor Department reported was that new unemployment claims filed for the week ended Feb. 24 totaled 351,000, which was slightly lower than the 353,000 new claims filed the prior week. “Slightly indeed! a better term for this 0.57% decline is “statistically insignificant!
The idea that such a “drop” in new claims would spark a jump in the Dow or the S&P shows how completely divorced from reality investors really are.
Read More:
HTTP://WWW.COUNTERPUNCH.ORG/2012/03/02/UNEMPLOYMENT-MUMBO-JUMBO/
