Holiday Jobless Claims are Always Lower

This morning, the initial unemployment insurance claims report (aka the Jobless Claims Report) for the last week fell "unexpectedly" below 400,000 to 381,000. Reuters news wrote this in response: "The number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment benefits dropped to a nine-month low last week, suggesting the labor market's recovery was gaining momentum."

Well, here's the thing. The claims numbers are always lower in the weeks that constitute the Holiday season -- starting with the week before Thanksgiving and ending in mid-January when seasonally hired workers are let go. It's a simple fact that retailers hire during the holidays; causing a lowering in unemployment and claims. It's also human nature. You see, most employers aren't the heartless, greedy ogres that Obama and the Democrats would have you believe. The last thing that any employer wants to do is throw a worker out on the street during the holidays.

But, the news media always jumps on these "seasonal" drops as some "sign" that the economy is getting better. Just last year, CNN reported on the noticeable slowdown in claims with this December 16th headline: "Unemployment claims drift lower." Inside that report, economist Stuart Hoffman of PNC Financial Services was quoted as saying: "...the current downward trajectory is 'very encouraging.'" However, as we now know, that downward trend evaporated after the holidays and the claims numbers started going back up in 2011.

Then, on December 30, CNN wrote an even more ecstatic report on the falling jobless claims under this this headline: "Jobless claims drop below 400,000 mark." They went on to write: "For the first time in more than two years, the number of Americans filing for their first week of unemployment benefits fell below 400,000 last week -- a ray of hope in one of the longest job droughts in U.S. history." Of course, that "longest drought" has continued on with millions of Americans still out of work and still losing jobs.

To me, it seems like the "left-wing media" always has convenient memory loss around this time of the year. But, if you're a liberal news operation and your favored President is floundering at his job, it's a good way to make lemonade out of lemons. This has happened time after time since Obama has been in office. Nearly every week the jobless insurance claims are report as "falling unexpectedly". Then, the following week, the previously reported claims number is bumped up again so the newly reported claims number can be, again, shown as a drop. Yet, the claims remain high at above the 400,000 level. If they had truly fallen as many times as they have been reported to have done so -- in the last three years -- nobody should be out of work.

But, Obama is not a job's president. This, despite how hard the press tries to make him look like one. From his spending and energy policies to his healthcare and financial service mandates, this President and his administration have done absolutely nothing to correct the high unemployment situation in this country. That is not just me saying this. It's a simple, statistical fact.