Thursday, October 11, 2012

Jobs Report: Numbers Improve Going Into The Election

Updates

Later, 1:30 pm: later, some clarity.


Later, 11:42 am: We're starting to find out why one of the biggest job-related stories in months was given such little ink. I noted that in the original post: that the story was very, very short, considering how big the story was. It's coming out in dribs and drabs, but we now learn that the information was incomplete: one "large" state did not report its numbers; worse, the federal government did not let us know which state that was. Tweets suggest that maybe all states did report. Wow, if the bureaucracy can't even determine if "all" states reported ... but then recall that some folks think there are 57 states in the union, so I can certainly understand the confusion. I cannot make this stuff up. This all comes from linked sources.

Original Post
Most important: North Dakota sets new record for production.

Now, on with the weekly jobs report.

Remember: the magic number is 400,000

Last week's numbers were revised upward by 2,000.

This week's numbers: 339,000 -- lowest in 4.5 years -- lowest since February, 2008

Better numbers than expectations.

The boiler-plate: the four-week moving average for new claims fell to 364,000.

So, the numbers are much improved going into the election.

Best jobs report in 4.5 years and not much of a news story. 

2 comments:

  1. One big state didn't report, but they won't say which one or when it will report. Something smells. Number is down 30,000 and is inaccurate but they still report it?

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    Replies
    1. Yes, for such a "great" report going into the home stretch, it was certainly one of the shortest stories on jobs. Generally the stories are quite long. I am a bit dismayed that the government would manipulate basic data.

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