Thursday, January 14, 2010

Claims update



Weekly unemployment claims are still pretty high from an historical perspective, but I note that they were this high or higher more than a year after the last two recessions. The "healing" of the job market (defined as the reduction in the number of people being laid off) has proceeded at a much faster pace this time around. That's most likely due to the severity of this recession, of course, but it's a positive spin that gets easily overlooked.

5 comments:

septizoniom said...

perhaps it's not the layoffs that matter, but rather the lack of job creation that really matters.

Bret said...

I agree with septizoniom and find the chart at http://biggovernment.com/2010/01/13/americas-new-years-unemployment-hangover/ enlightening. Layoffs are slowing down, but new hiring seems to be sluggish still.

Unknown said...

Or the two charts here:
http://www.thedisciplinedinvestor.com/blog/2010/01/14/initial-and-continuing-claims-the-inside-scoop

dr. j said...

when will you post next?

Scott Grannis said...

soon. I just got back from a long ski weekend in Tahoe. Too many things going on to post.