Our senior editor who is always busy separating the wheat from the chaff in his new location on the Great Plains forwarded this item from Reuters with the comment “Well, I guess we know what caused the bad employment news according to Reuters ” The “analysis” not identified as such in the article, is typographically emphasized in bold by us. We are pretty sure Mr Lange would have preferred the emphasis, so allow us.
Jobless Claims Jump In Warning Sign for Labor Market
Reuters, by Jason Lange
WASHINGTON – The number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment benefits climbed last week at the fastest pace in six months, a worrisome sign for the economy which has been hit by government austerity. Initial claims for state unemployment benefits jumped by 32,000 to a seasonally adjusted 360,000, the Labor Department said on Thursday. That was the biggest jump since November and confounded analysts´ expectations for a more modest increase. Claims for the prior week were revised to show 5,000 more applications received than previously reported. A Labor Department analyst said no states had estimated their data
So Lang of Reuters limits the unemployment problem to government not spending enough. We suggest that he turn off the talking point Tweets from Obama and maybe read a newspaper or two. From USA Today May 3rd —
Economists have largely blamed the weakening on across-the-board federal spending cuts, a recent payroll tax increase and small business hesitancy to hire because of coming health care insurance requirements.
The bold emphasis is ours in order to add a little perspective not supplied by Lange of Reuters. Certainly the latter two items above are far more reflective of business attitudes. Employers not dependent on the public purse view spending discipline from Washington favorably because it implies less inflation and that much less tax pressure.
DLH and R Mall
