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Today's AP Headline at ABC News.com: 'Weekly US Jobless Aid Applications Dip to 370,000' Last Week: 'US Unemployment Aid Applications Stay at 370,000'

Posted by Mike Bates on Thursday, May 24, 2012 4:26:54 PM

Economic conditions are getting better, or so it would seem if you read today's Associated Press story at the ABCNews.com website titled "Weekly US Jobless Aid Applications Dip to 370,000."  Yes, indeed, those many initiatives of President Barack Obama are finally kicking in.  But you may be somewhat confused if you had also read last week's AP article on ABCNews.com.  That was headlined "US Unemployment Aid Applications Stay at 370,000."  How could the number "dip" to 370,000 if it were already at 370,000?

Every Thursday the U.S. Department of Labor's Employment and Training Administration turns out a press release reporting the previous week's jobless claims.  Today's release, as last week's release, revised the number of jobless claims reported earlier upward.  Interestingly, every single press release issued this year revises the previous week's number upward.  Talk about coincidences.  Human error is understandable, but you'd think that at least once in a while they'd have to make a downward revision.  Not in the Age of Obama.

The AP, ABCNews.com stories, however, don't mention DOL's constant revisions, which would provide necessary context for readers.  Nor do other mainstream media outlets.  They should.         


   

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CNN's Costello: 'Jobless Claims Plummeted Last Week': A Whopping 1.5%

Posted by Mike Bates on Thursday, March 31, 2011 1:09:19 PM

It was good economic news on CNN's Newsroom this morning. After a brief mention of radiation in Japan , anchor Carol Costello reported:

Brand new numbers out of the Labor Department this morning. It turns out jobless claims plummeted last week. Down 6,000 to 388,000.

I'm not certain what dictionary CNN news readers use, but "plummet" wouldn't seem to be the right verb. Merriam-Webster's online reference defines plummet as "to fall perpendicularly" or "to drop sharply and abruptly." A 1.5 percent reduction in jobless claims quite clearly doesn't meet those definitions.

Moreover, the 6,000 drop figure is "seasonally adjusted" with a Labor Department statistical technique designed to accommodate fluctuations in the job market. DOL's Employment and Training report included the raw data:

The advance number of actual initial claims under state programs, unadjusted, totaled 354,301 in the week ending March 26, a decrease of 156 from the previous week.

156 fewer jobless claims. Hundreds of billions spent by President Obama and his liberal accomplices on shovel-ready jobs and that's what results.

Yet at CNN, jobless claims "plummeted." Don't they ever tire of trying to prop up Obama's failed administration?

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