Unemployment: New Claims Down.
This week’s Unemployment Insurance Weekly Claims Report has been released. Initial claims fell to 470,000 while last week’s number was revised down 4,000. This wasn’t quite good enough to hit the Bloomberg consensus range of 430k to 460k. From the report:
In the week ending Jan. 23, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 470,000, a decrease of 8,000 from the previous week’s revised figure of 478,000. The 4-week moving average was 456,250, an increase of 9,500 from the previous week’s revised average of 446,750.
The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 3.5 percent for the week ending Jan. 16, a decrease of 0.1 percentage point from the prior week’s revised rate of 3.6 percent.
The advance number for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment during the week ending Jan. 16 was 4,602,000, a decrease of 57,000 from the preceding week’s revised level of 4,659,000. The 4-week moving average was 4,669,250, a decrease of 94,250 from the preceding week’s revised average of 4,763,500.
Despite the improvement, this is being treated as not-good-enough news. I disagree a bit with that assessment. There are still huge malinvestments that need to be worked through. To really appreciate the good news, one must look at the unadjusted data. The rapid snapback to the trend from New Year’s surge is almost complete:
But there’s good news: You can deduct your job search expenses. In fact, you’d be surprised to know that most costs incurred in finding a job, including going on interviews and network meetings, are deductible. Clothing and lunches are just about the only two things you cannot claim to ease your burden.
I have a confession to make. Up to this point in time I have been very careful about revealing my age. For the purpose of this writing, however I will mention that I am over the age of 50, so I fall into the category of older job seekers. Recently, I read an excellent article in Newsday about mistakes that older job seekers make. As a result, I have decided to put together my own list of mistakes which I have tried to avoid:
This week’s inspirational Music Monday Song is “Do It!” by House Rulez feat. Lee Yoon Jung. 
(Ed.Note) Welcome to our journey into the world of recession blogs! The 405 Club wants to get personal via a handful of questions with our favorite fellow bloggers who are documenting the recession and unemployment firsthand.
