Jobless Claims 456,000, the bunny is no longer a factor

The Department of Labor (DOL) reported today that "seasonally adjusted" initial jobless claims for the week of April 17, 2010 clocked in at 456,000. This is down 24,000 from last week’s adjusted figure of 480,000 (initially reported at 484,000).

Continuing claims which are also “seasonally adjusted” were reported at 4.65 million down slightly from the prior revised figure of 4.686 million (initially reported at 4.639 million).

The DOL made no mention of the bunny or Cesar Chavez in their most recent report. You may recall that the DOL stated the rabbit and the social activist distorted the “seasonal adjustment” factor in their prior two reports. Grandpa recently reported (4/15/10) that the DOL contracted with Elmer Fudd to “take out the rabbit”. Grandpa’s money was on the rabbit however it appears Mr. Fudd’s contract has been fulfilled.

Emergency Unemployment Compensation (EUC):
5,347,114 week ending 4/3/2010, down 508,187 from week ending 3/27/10. Grandpa can only assume a significant portion of these people fell off the roles due to eligibility guidelines.

FOR THE RECORD: EUC claims one year ago were 2,364,774.

Grandpa is sending best wishes to all who have recently filed or are continuing to receive unemployment benefits as unlike the financial news channels that will spin the fact that claims dropped; grandpa is empathetic to the hardship families across America are experiencing.

Clearly Christina Romer (last Saturday) was still taking nips of the magic Kool-Aid. "By almost every indicator, the U.S. economy is finally on the road to recovery".