Jobless Claims Reach Highest Number Since November

[duane1969]

For the third straight week jobless claims have risen putting them at the highest they have been since November of last year.

http://www.nbcnews.com/business/econ...kets-1C9214210

[Wickabee]

I wonder how many of those claims are people who work seasonal jobs.

[duane1969]

The article says it is seasonally adjusted, so it I guess it is adjusted to account for seasonal workers. The reality is that a lot of people are hired by malls, Walmart, etc. to work during the Christmas/Easter holiday swing and are no longer needed. I realize the difficulty in doing this, but the unemployment rate needs to be based on permanently employed people and not take temporarily employed people into account.

[Wickabee]

That's the thing about these numbers. Jobless, unemployed, looking for work. They're all different numbers and they all support different theories. Thing is, any time you say any of these numbers, the same connotation is attached, despite the fact they're looking at different, yet related, things. Because of this, these numbers tend to get used politically only and really are meaningless.