Numbers are all over the place:
New jobless claims rise more than expected to 589K
WASHINGTON ââ¬â The number of new unemployment claims jumped more than expected last week, as companies continue to cut jobs at a furious pace and more Americans turn to an extended benefits program.
The Labor Department reported Thursday that initial jobless benefit claims rose to a seasonally adjusted 589,000 in the week ending Jan. 17, from an upwardly revised figure of 527,000 the previous week. The latest tally was well above Wall Street economists' expectations of 540,000 new claims.
The increase is partly due to a backlog of claims that piled up in recent weeks in several states that experienced computer crashes due to a crush of applications, a Labor Department analyst said. The four-week average of claims, which smooths out fluctuations, was 519,250, the same as the previous week.
The above paragraph is the important one. State employment offices are in a melt down mode. They are so far behind that the government has no real idea of just how many people are filing. Safe to say all numbers are low balled.
