Statistical anomaly corrected

Human Events ^ | 10/18/12 | John Hayward

[trappedincanuckistan]

Remember how the Bureau of Labor Statistics put out a bizarrely low jobless claims report last week, producing breathless coast-to-coast media coverage of the lowest claims level in four years? Remember how it turned out they produced this report without having received all of the necessary data? (BLS still won’t say exactly what was missing; it has been theorized that it had something to do with the numbers from California, which delayed calculation of the traditional “seasonal adjustments.” However, the crew at ZeroHedge disputes the California theory, growling that in truth, “nobody at the Department of Labor knows what is actually going on, and numbers are simply being picked out of thin air.”)

Nothing was mischievously “suppressed” in the last report. It was a paperwork glitch, not a dirty trick. Information simply was not received on time. It’s happened before. The strange thing about this particular report was how BLS undersold its incomplete nature, and how virtually every major media outlet simply failed to note that a big fat asterisk belong next to the number. Instead, it was uncritically presented as proof that after all these years, Obamanomics was finally starting to pump out some jobs.

Well, a new week is upon us, all of the data was evidently received on time, and what do you know? Initial jobless claims are up by 46,000, to a seasonally adjusted 388,000. That would technically make it the biggest one-week percentage increase in jobless claims over the last five years. Of course, a great deal of the percentage increase is due to adjustments correcting last week’s inaccurate numbers.

[SparkyBass]

Unexpected!

[stephenjohnbanker]

OK, all of you FReepers who said Obama couldn’t “cook the books” raise your hand......

[LucianOfSamasota]

It ALWAYS is.

[alloysteel]

But we really don’t have an “official” number yet, right?

Whatever it is, it has to be above 8%, thus making 44 months straight of unrelieved dismal numbers.

[Lacey2]

Wasn’t previous week claims at 339,000? If so todays number seems to include yet another upward revision of the previous week of 3000 claims.

[Intolerant in NJ]

Statistical anomaly corrected...and just wait 'til the statistical anomaly that was the unemployment number for September gets corrected five days before the election, and unemployment climbs back to 8 percent or above.......

[Lacey2]

Wasn’t previous week claims at 339,000? If so todays number seems to include yet another upward revision of the previous week of 3000 claims.