Thursday, December 24, 2009

Jobless Claims (Four-Week Moving Average) Fall for 16th Consecutive Week to a 15-Month Low


The Department of Labor reported today that initial claims for unemployment (4-week moving average) fell to 465,250 for the week ending December 19, which is the 16th consecutive weekly decline in claims, and the lowest level since the week of September 20, 2008, exactly 15 months ago (see chart above).

7 Comments:

At 12/24/2009 10:29 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

FYI, an area chart would look more like a Christmas Tree. You know, fill in the area under the tree with green.

 
At 12/24/2009 10:48 AM, Blogger Mark J. Perry said...

Anonymous: Thanks for the tip, I changed it....

 
At 12/24/2009 11:02 AM, Anonymous gettingrational said...

Prof. Perry, Merry Christmas to you. I have really enjoyed your blog this last year.

Your optimism through this turbulent year may not have been infectious but it was most certainly correct.

 
At 12/24/2009 12:23 PM, Blogger Bill said...

Dr. Perry,

Thanks so much for your comments. Your blog is a blessing amidst the gloom and doom of the mainstream media.

Merry Christmas.

 
At 12/24/2009 6:18 PM, Anonymous Dr. T said...

Dr. Perry, how about graphing total unemployment, a much more important indicator than weekly additions to unemployment. If few of those persons previously unemployed over the past two years got jobs, then even a low number of newly unemployed persons is bad. A total unemployment graph won't give the rosy picture shown in your graph. Instead, it will show that unemployment is ~50% greater than it was two years ago. The financial recession may be over, but a full economic recovery probably won't occur until 2011.

 
At 12/24/2009 9:07 PM, Anonymous Precious said...

But that graph wouldn't make such a pretty tree, Dr. T.

 
At 12/26/2009 7:08 PM, Blogger juandos said...

Hmmm, I wonder what sort of politics (if any) goes into the reporting of these jobless claims numbers?

Courtesy of the Washington Examiner: UPDATED: 94,341 jobs 'not really created or saved' by the stimulus (and counting)

 

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