Looks like another banner year for George Bush's booming economy. From Reuters:
Initial U.S. jobless claims surged unexpectedly last week by 43,000, taking claims to their highest level since late September, a government report showed on Thursday -- but an official noted there were seasonal adjustment difficulties.When you have a good chunk of your labor force chronically unemployed or underemployed, they take jobs for the holiday to pay the bills. When those jobs go away, they return to the unemployment rolls. Seasonal adjustments might have been off because of this chronic underemployment, but it shouldn't have been that unexpected. Unless you think that the economy is "fantastic". Or was it "fabulous"? I forget.
The number of Americans making first-time claims for state unemployment insurance benefits rose to 364,000 in the week ended Jan. 1, up from a revised 321,000 in the previous week. It was the largest one-week gain since a 62,000 jump in the week ended March 30, 2002, the Labor Department said.
Wall Street economists' had forecast initial claims to rise to 331,000 from the originally reported 326,000 in the week ended Dec. 25, 2004.
A Labor Department analyst said the rise was pumped up more than expected because season adjustments were unable to account for the holiday-shortened week, and, as always, he urged observers to look at the four-week average. ...
