(no subject)
For the past couple of months, I've been making comments in a couple of sites about how the unemployment numbers are being irresponsibly reported.
Some of you may have seen the news earlier this week, how "The Labor Department said the total unemployment insurance rolls fell by 148,000 to 6.69 million in the week ending June 6, the largest drop in more than seven years." (source)
That news even caused a minor rally in the market.
But the truth is, people are running out of unemployment benefits. That's why they're no longer showing up in the "unemployment insurance rolls". In fact, only some media sources are reporting that "nearly half of recipients at the end of last month had exhausted the 26 weeks of benefits provided under the regular state program without finding work, according to Labor Department data. That's a record and compared with about 36% in December 2007, when the recession began." (source) That means unless they can get federal extensions for another 13 weeks, and possibly a second 13-week extension after that if they are in a hard-hit state, they won't just have the little unemployment insurance money to spend, they'll have none! Some people have already exhausted even their extensions.
The news media has been trying to positively spin a lot of bad economic news lately, pointing to tiny increases here and there. Remember, it's just static. We don't know if it's over yet, and besides, it's likely going to be a jobless recovery or an "L"-shaped recovery.