On Wednesday, the growing pack of economic recovery boosters seized upon a strong burst in March retail sales as evidence that the American consumer is capable of resuming his normal spend-happy ways, even though it's a challenge to see where the wherewithal to fund this consumption rebirth is coming from. But what will they make of today's jobless claim news? Forthe second straight week, jobless claims jumped up, this time by an unsettling large leap of 24,000, to 484,000 overall. The numbers for April, so far, seem quite inconsistent with the level of payroll growth recorded for March.
Bloomberg and the Wall Street Journal reported an unnamed Labor Department blaming the unexpected jump on technical factors.
Wall Street Journal:
A Labor Department economist said Thursday that this latest rise can also be pegged to lag effects from the spring holidays including Easter and Cesar Chavez Day, which is celebrated in worker-heavy California.
"Volatility is always higher in the weeks surrounding the Easter holiday," the economist said. "I think that the increase you're seeing is much more attributable to administrative factors than economic factors."
The long arm of Cesar Chavez reaches beyond the grave, and screws with the unemployment statistics! You see, you really can blame labor organizers for everything!
Tune in next week to see whether the excruciatingly slow overall downward trend in claims resumes. But for now, some caution about the prospects that labor markets are on the mend seems warranted.
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