Initial Unemployment Claims: ‘Only' 434,000

And of course, the prior week's “O…M…G” number was revised even higher:

Reax from Christopher Rugaber at the Associated Press:

The drop suggests that the increase of 47,000 reported last week was mostly due to temporary factors. The state of New York reported that applications jumped by more than 24,000 two weeks ago, because more school systems had spring break than usual. That led to a spike in temporary layoffs. A new extended benefits program in Oregon had caused applications to rise in that state.

Okay, I guess that means that the “new normal” is 430,000 or so new claims a week — in the 23rd month after the end of the recession, when by Rugaber's own admission in his report the number needs to consistently be 375,000 or lower for sustainable job growth (BTW, that seems like a bit of bar-lowering, but investigating that will have to wait).

Also, in the “Of Course He Ignored This” Dept. — Rugaber “somehow” forgot to report today's number was higher than expectations of 423,000. Update: Reuters thought it would be 430,000.