US Jobless Claims Hit Eight-Month High as Labor Market Cools

[mahatmakanejeeves]

4. Please note that the monthly unemployment rate numbers and the weekly initial unemployment claims

numbers measure two different things. They come from two entirely different agencies in the Department of Labor. The two agencies are not even in the same building.

The report that came out this morning is basically a weather report. The numbers come in over the week, and career economists turn them into a report. At 8:30 a.m. every Thursday, someone in ETA hits "send," and the report goes out. Financial reporters at Bloomberg, Reuters, et. al. look the numbers over, write up a few paragraphs, and hit "send" on their terminals. It's the same high temperature, low temperature, relative humidity, and chance of scattered showers no matter who writes it up.

Thanks for writing.