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Total NSA Unemploment Claims Hit Another Record

Tyler Durden's picture




Total Non-Seasonally adjusted insurance claims (consisting of Initial, Continuing and EUC claims) hit another record of 11,268,100. Make of this data what you will. We are confident the objective, mainstream media will find a way to spin this favorably (it can only go down from here... of course, unless it doesn't).

And a long term chart, compliments of CreditTrader




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Thu, 01/07/2010 - 13:59 | Link to Comment KidHorn
KidHorn's picture

Doesn't matter. The only number that matters is the BLS U-3 number.

Thu, 01/07/2010 - 14:03 | Link to Comment docj
docj's picture

Bingo.

What are we thinking is the over/under on that?  I'm picking +85K and thinking it might be slightly over.  How that jives with the NSA UE number is a complete mystery but the MSM will never, ever demand that the administration attempt to square that circle.

Thu, 01/07/2010 - 16:38 | Link to Comment Don Smith
Don Smith's picture

I'll take the over.

Thu, 01/07/2010 - 17:10 | Link to Comment trav7777
trav7777's picture

so...what, short GLD?

Fri, 01/08/2010 - 01:03 | Link to Comment Dr o love
Dr o love's picture

I'll take the under and predict flat +/- 10K since I'm sure if the number was higher, GS would have front run it today by buying massive quantities of futures.  Didn't happen.

Thu, 01/07/2010 - 16:51 | Link to Comment Anonymous
Thu, 01/07/2010 - 18:44 | Link to Comment Mad About Ewe
Mad About Ewe's picture

I don't have T.V.  I watched Fox News and MSNBC for the first time in 8 years yesterday.  Previously, I had hope that Americans were smart enough to manage this situation, and I thought that eventually we would wake up to how we're being screwed.

After having watch 15 minutes of Glen Beck, first I showered until the water ran cold.  Then I tried to drain my liqueur cabinet.  Then I cried for a day, called a suicide hotline, and reached acceptance. 

Point being: I no longer think we'll get out of this.

Fri, 01/08/2010 - 00:08 | Link to Comment Anonymous
Fri, 01/08/2010 - 11:49 | Link to Comment Anonymous
Sun, 01/10/2010 - 22:40 | Link to Comment Mad About Ewe
Mad About Ewe's picture

Troll?

 

Fri, 01/08/2010 - 19:17 | Link to Comment Anonymous
Sat, 01/09/2010 - 03:18 | Link to Comment Anonymous
Sat, 01/09/2010 - 15:43 | Link to Comment Anonymous
Thu, 01/07/2010 - 19:58 | Link to Comment Anonymous
Thu, 01/07/2010 - 14:05 | Link to Comment Mad Max
Mad Max's picture

The miracle of the printing press allows millions more (every day!) to live without having to work.  It is a truly a marvelous revolution of the 21st century.

Thu, 01/07/2010 - 14:32 | Link to Comment Joe Sixpack
Joe Sixpack's picture

Hey, it's part of a high fiber diet! (That's what I say about FRNs in response to people who say, 'you can't eat gold').

 

If they could fomulate the binders and ink with glucose and protein, we may have a winner!

Thu, 01/07/2010 - 14:35 | Link to Comment docj
docj's picture

Soylent Green?

Thu, 01/07/2010 - 17:20 | Link to Comment MortimerDuke
MortimerDuke's picture

Nice "Soylent Green" reference.  That movie is underappreciated. 

Thu, 01/07/2010 - 18:45 | Link to Comment Mad About Ewe
Mad About Ewe's picture

I truely love your avitar.

Thu, 01/07/2010 - 14:53 | Link to Comment Mad Max
Mad Max's picture

Ironically, you CAN eat gold, in the form of gold leaf, if you're at a sufficiently pretentious and expensive restaurant.  Not that it does anything beneficial for you, but neither do FRNs.

Thu, 01/07/2010 - 15:29 | Link to Comment Stoploss
Stoploss's picture

I regularly eat gold in the form of flakes suspended in Goldschlager... mmm mmm good, think i will have me one.  Or two..

Thu, 01/07/2010 - 16:54 | Link to Comment Anonymous
Fri, 01/08/2010 - 19:01 | Link to Comment Anonymous
Thu, 01/07/2010 - 14:08 | Link to Comment hambone
hambone's picture

Could it be in our perverse black is white and up is down world that we do get a big positive jobs # (I'll take +150k) and the market finally sells off hard (50pts for 10 minutes before continuing it's rise to all time new highs) on the fear of impending rate increases?  Is it possible the market can go down...ever again?

Thu, 01/07/2010 - 14:20 | Link to Comment xamax
xamax's picture

The answer is : No !

I expect Congress to vote a resolution that the market is never allowed any more to go down  (sarcasm)

Thu, 01/07/2010 - 14:10 | Link to Comment 10044
10044's picture

I think Becky and Leisman will make out tomorrow on air out of excitement over U3

Thu, 01/07/2010 - 14:15 | Link to Comment Rusty_Shackleford
Rusty_Shackleford's picture

Well, let's just store that image away for a later nightmare thank you very much!

Thu, 01/07/2010 - 14:18 | Link to Comment Cognitive Dissonance
Cognitive Dissonance's picture

A good magician never tires of performing the same trick over and over again because there's a sucker born every minute. Er...... sorry. I mean there are new ways to present old tricks to keep the audience captivated and enthralled.

Thu, 01/07/2010 - 14:15 | Link to Comment max2205
max2205's picture

Damn, the claims ramp from Nov is where the Indexes have been moving sorta sideways...are they thinking it peaking or distributing and selling. a parabolic continuation would bring claims to 15 or so million.

Thu, 01/07/2010 - 14:19 | Link to Comment ThirdEye
ThirdEye's picture

Finally a hockey stick "You can believe in".

Thu, 01/07/2010 - 15:48 | Link to Comment Howard_Beale
Howard_Beale's picture

Yep...better than a 2X4 at Home Depot.

Thu, 01/07/2010 - 16:07 | Link to Comment ZerOhead
ZerOhead's picture

Good God man!! it is...

It's Dr. Michael Mann's Hockey Stick back from the dead again...

Thu, 01/07/2010 - 14:41 | Link to Comment hambone
hambone's picture

Thank god the census is coming along to soak up a half  million+ in early '10.  However, the other side of that one could be a little rough in June or July when those folks are no longer needed.

Thu, 01/07/2010 - 14:43 | Link to Comment jswede
jswede's picture

regarding the EUC, Emergency Claims Number....   realize that this claims bucket does not usually exist -- which is why many are not so familiar with it (ie Liesman etc)... it's created when the job losses are i) massive and ii) folks don't find work.  first you claim benefits, when that runs out, you claim extended benefits, then, if you STILL don't have a job, if it's made available, you claim EMERGENCY benefits...

in this recession, EUC did not exist until mid-2008...  that's to say that it was at ZERO in mid-2008.... by the end of 2008 it was at 1.6mil people...  at the beginning of Nov 2009 it was at 3.6mil...  it's at 5.1mil at the latest reading, on 12/18  (~2 week delay in these numbers as I understand)...   that's 1.5mil people added in 6 weeks.

and it's getting worse:  ONE WEEK AGO, the 12/11/09 EUC number was released at 4.4mil...  today's reading came in at 5.1mil for 12/18, and the increase reported was +235k...again:  FOR. THE. WEEK.   ... but that doesn't add up to the increase... oh yea, there was the +460k revision to the 12/11 week...  nearly 700k people added on the week from 12/11 to 12/18....  chart it if you're on bloomberg: {INJCEUC <Index>}    it's getting STEEEP.

the EUC bucket is the 'last stop'.  with 1 job for every 6 people looking (perhaps worse at this point?), it will only get bigger.  this week was the first that EUC was higher than Cont Claims.  and it will become more massive, even as media focuses on the initial claims, assuming that, like in OTHER recessions, people eventually find work...  not this time.

Thu, 01/07/2010 - 14:53 | Link to Comment OutLookingIn
OutLookingIn's picture

Just think - once we get to zero new claims initiated - the spin will be that there is no unemployment! Marvelous! No?

Thu, 01/07/2010 - 15:49 | Link to Comment Fur Trader
Fur Trader's picture

Right!  i.e., "Then let them eat jobs...."

Thu, 01/07/2010 - 15:20 | Link to Comment hambone
hambone's picture

So once they fall off the EUC bucket...they officially no longer exist?  Any idea to tell how many are exhausting EUC on a weekly basis?

Thu, 01/07/2010 - 15:32 | Link to Comment jswede
jswede's picture

hambone, I honestly don't know how/if/when folks fall out of EUC... no one looks to be leaving when I eyeball the chart...  3.6mil to 5.1mil in 7 weeks..

suffice it to say, none of these data, nor the programs themselves, were made for recessions this long/deep/severe with these mass amounts of job losses and - most importantly - length of unemployment...

we're in uncharted waters...  which makes most usual data (intial/contimuing claims; UE rate etc) faulty, and standard interpretation just plain WRONG.

Thu, 01/07/2010 - 15:33 | Link to Comment Anonymous
Thu, 01/07/2010 - 16:30 | Link to Comment Anonymouse
Anonymouse's picture

And of course, some of us never even get into the EUC bucket. I've been unemployed for 2 years, but never have been in the statistics as I resigned from my last job (for good reason) and therefore am not eligible for unemployment benefits.  If you don't collect benefits, you might as well not exist as far as BLS is concerned.

Probably not too many in my situation, I'll admit, but we non-persons are out there.

"We're here.  We're non-persons.  Get used to it."

Fri, 01/08/2010 - 09:03 | Link to Comment deadhead
deadhead's picture

all small business owners are in this category as they are ineligible for unemployment benefits....there are more of you than you think.

 

Thu, 01/07/2010 - 17:30 | Link to Comment Anonymous
Fri, 01/08/2010 - 01:12 | Link to Comment Dr o love
Dr o love's picture

My brother has been collecting unemployment for 14 months and says he's eligible for another 47 weeks.  Go figure.  Probably the only thing stopping a revolt is that too many people are dependent on Government handouts.  You just don't revolt against the hand that feeds you and buys your beer.

Fri, 01/08/2010 - 09:05 | Link to Comment deadhead
deadhead's picture

the max amount that can be collected under current programs is 99 weeks.  that is a fact.

i'm sure it will go up soon once the congress is back in session.  most of what i read is another 6 months but i suspect the Dems will push it out past early november.....

Thu, 01/07/2010 - 14:44 | Link to Comment Anonymous
Thu, 01/07/2010 - 14:46 | Link to Comment ShankyS
ShankyS's picture

I serously think they are reading this chart upside down. Will someone please flip the chart over.

Thu, 01/07/2010 - 14:50 | Link to Comment Anonymous
Thu, 01/07/2010 - 15:02 | Link to Comment What_Me_Worry
What_Me_Worry's picture

I'm just waiting until they fake the numbers for so long that they put out a report showing more jobs than there are people.

Pretty soon kids will be able to major in unemployment in college.  They can master the most efficient ways of gaining government entitlements, earning millions more over the course of their careers than the simple HS unemployment diploma holders.

Thu, 01/07/2010 - 15:32 | Link to Comment Andrei Vyshinsky
Andrei Vyshinsky's picture

"Pretty soon kids will be able to major in unemployment in college."

I like that. But this opportunity will be realizable only by those that earlier have built exciting careers in employment areas advertised as a replacements for those previously out-sourced to India and Ugabugia. And by all means it will have been necessary that they have gone into hock to some loanshark representing the interests of elitist academicians with six figure salaries so as to get them there. Then, and only then, will they be considered worthy of a an unemployment major. We don't take just anybody, you know.

Thu, 01/07/2010 - 23:52 | Link to Comment Trifecta Man
Trifecta Man's picture

I like it.  Let's call this Too Dumb to Fail.

Thu, 01/07/2010 - 15:20 | Link to Comment SWRichmond
SWRichmond's picture

Somewhere in there, 3 million jobs were "saved or created"....

Thu, 01/07/2010 - 15:24 | Link to Comment Master Bates
Master Bates's picture

Incidentally, the number of unemployed is almost equal to the number of illegal immigrants with jobs in the U.S.A.

Coincidence?

Thu, 01/07/2010 - 15:39 | Link to Comment Anonymous
Thu, 01/07/2010 - 16:19 | Link to Comment Ripped Chunk
Ripped Chunk's picture

He called your parents

Thu, 01/07/2010 - 17:05 | Link to Comment Anonymous
Thu, 01/07/2010 - 15:35 | Link to Comment Thalamus
Thalamus's picture

Rumor has it that the Gov will print a large, much improved non-payroll # tomorrow a.m..  This is plausible since the statisticians have all been fired and Tim updates the jobless spread sheet now.  Look for the Dow to continue to the moon. 

Thu, 01/07/2010 - 16:45 | Link to Comment Don Smith
Don Smith's picture

He uses Turbo Tax...

Thu, 01/07/2010 - 16:08 | Link to Comment ZerOhead
ZerOhead's picture

"Better than expected"

Thu, 01/07/2010 - 16:11 | Link to Comment Anonymous
Thu, 01/07/2010 - 17:51 | Link to Comment Anonymous
Thu, 01/07/2010 - 17:57 | Link to Comment Anonymous
Fri, 01/08/2010 - 04:35 | Link to Comment laughing_swordfish
laughing_swordfish's picture

+ 10

Thu, 01/07/2010 - 18:11 | Link to Comment Dont Taze Me Bro
Dont Taze Me Bro's picture

It doesn't what BLS reports tomorrow. The markets will move in whatever direction that it wants.

My long-term theory is that employment stats will eventually get decoupled from the movements in the financial markets. Employment numbers were important when the middle class was the economic back-bone of this country, but the middle class is slowly eroding away, so its becoming less and less central to economic well being of the country.

And for those that are not aware, "middle class" is actually an American phenomenon. Most other countries don't have a middle class. In other placed you are either rich or poor and that's where America is heading.

Thu, 01/07/2010 - 19:58 | Link to Comment ozziindaus
ozziindaus's picture

It's the hockey stick generation. New hire adds are also down so expect January figures to continue up. With so many qualified candidates showing up to interviews, employers are now looking for reasons NOT to hire you. Credit score, place of residence, breath........

Thu, 01/07/2010 - 20:51 | Link to Comment LordNumbNuts
LordNumbNuts's picture

Stupid question about the number TD gives: 11,268,100

Which specific blocks of the weekly claims report are summed to get that number? 



Fri, 01/08/2010 - 03:32 | Link to Comment LordNumbNuts
LordNumbNuts's picture

Well, I managed to answer my own question. Looks like the 11,268,100 comes from Jan. 2 Initial Claims (NSA) + Dec. 26 Continuing Claims (NSA) + Dec. 19 EUC.

New question: why aren?t "Extended Benefits" recipients included in the total? Is it because those individuals are counted in Continuing Claims (since "Extended Benefits" are 50% state funded and 50% federally funded) ?

Thu, 01/07/2010 - 20:58 | Link to Comment Anonymous
Thu, 01/07/2010 - 21:02 | Link to Comment Anonymous
Thu, 01/07/2010 - 21:43 | Link to Comment delacroix
delacroix's picture

bingo, I had to call everyday, many, many times, for 2 weeks, to get a human, lots of cell phone minutes.

Fri, 01/08/2010 - 18:23 | Link to Comment Anonymous
Sat, 01/09/2010 - 13:25 | Link to Comment Anonymous
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