It’s Thursday and initial jobless claims have risen again. Last week they reported 332,000 but that was revised up to 334,000 so this week they’re saying that the number of claims has “only” risen by 2,000 to 236,000. No doubt that number will be revised up to 238,000 or more before we get the numbers next week. But it’s all good news because the number came in under economists’ expectations.
Oh, and then there was this:
The biggest surprise, however, was in the emergency extended benefits, which has continued it abnormally erratic weekly pattern, with this time 136K people falling off, following last week’s weekly surge. A tiny 1.8 million Americans are now on extended claims, nearly 1.1 million below the 2.9 million last year. Curious who the people applying for SS disability are? Now you know.
And we also know that once people are on SS disability, they never come off, so the labor market will continue to shrink while the burden on those still working will continue to rise.
RIGHT'S RIGHT 
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Thu Mar 21, 2013 9:49 am
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