Unemployment applications jump to 399000, Increase 24000, January 13, 2012, US Labor department, 4 week average rose to 381750, Media silent

“the Times of the nineteenth of December had published the official forecasts of the output of various classes of consumption goods in the fourth quarter of 1983, which was also the sixth quarter of the Ninth Three-Year Plan. Today’s issue contained a statement of the actual output, from which it appeared that the forecasts were in every instance grossly wrong. Winston’s job was to rectify the original figures by making them agree with the later ones.”…George Orwell, “1984”

Last week, when the alleged drop in unemployment claims was announced and the media was lavishing praise on Obama, I certainly had my doubts. The temporary jobs of the Christmas Season are always a problem and now with so many job applicants giving up, a realistic number is even more difficult to arrive at. Before reacting to last week’s numbers, I decided to let the dust settle and wait for the effect of the seasonal hiring to diminish.

Yesterday I heard Rush Limbaugh react to the Unemployment applications jump to 399,000. His reaction was much the same as mine with the recent jubilation in the media of reports of so called reductions in unemployment. Yesterday the media was silent. We still do not have a realistic number to reflect the true unemployment rate. Last week Sean Hannity indicated it is probably around 15.2 %.

From the Lake County News Sun January 12, 2012.

“Unemployment benefit applications jump to 399,000”

“The number of people applying for weekly unemployment benefits spiked last week, largely because companies let go of thousands of workers after the holiday season.

The Labor Department said Thursday that applications jumped by 24,000 to a seasonally adjusted 399,000, the most in six weeks. That followed three months of steady declines that brought applications to the lowest level in more than three years.

Applications typically soar in the first two weeks of the year. That’s because many companies lay off temporary workers who were brought on to help during the holidays. The department tries to adjust for those patterns. But the task is difficult because the data can be volatile.

The four-week average, which attempts to smooth such fluctuations, also rose, to 381,750. It had fallen in the previous week to a three-and-a-half-year low.”

“The pickup in hiring reflects greater economic growth. The economy will likely expand by more than 3 percent at an annual rate in the final three months of last year, economists expect. Rising consumer spending will likely power much of the gain. That would be a sharp improvement over the 1.8 percent growth in the July-September quarter.

Even so, economists worry that growth could slow in the first half of 2012. Europe is almost certain to fall into recession because of its financial troubles.

And wages didn’t keep pace with inflation last year. So without more jobs and higher pay, consumers may have to cut back on spending. That could drag on growth next year. Consumer spending accounts for 70 percent of economic activity.”

http://newssun.suntimes.com/business/9973056-420/unemployment-benefit-applications-jump-to-399000.html