New Jobless Claims Have Trended Higher Since September; Level Is Still Consistent With Job Growth

A quote from Reuters regarding the most recent data:

New jobless claims have trended higher since September, although economists say their level is still consistent with job growth.

This suggests to me there is still a lot of "fat" in the US economy, according to Reuters analysis. 

Reuters is reporting:

The number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment benefits fell last week to the lowest level in nearly a month, a hopeful sign for the labor market.

Initial claims for state unemployment benefits decreased 42,000 to a seasonally adjusted 338,000, the Labor Department said Thursday.

Claims for the prior week were revised to show 1,000 more applications received than previously reported. Economists polled by Reuters had expected first-time applications to fall to 345,000 last week. 

The following information was in the earlier Reuters story. It has now been removed from the article: unemployment claims are now in the same range as in the "early days of the 2007 - 2009 recession." They replaced that with a graph, but the graph is for this year only, conveniently not going back to the beginning of the Obama administration.

Trillions of dollars in stimulus and we are not farther along than we were "in the early days of the 2007 - 2009 recession. 

But Reuters continues to spin the analysis:

New jobless claims have trended higher since September, although economists say their level is still consistent with job growth. Other labor market indicators have pointed to strengthening job growth.

Meanwhile:

The four-week moving average for new claims, which irons out week-to-week volatility, increased 4,250 to 348,000.

The most amazing thing is how volatile these numbers are. I've talked about this before.