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Those in Glass Hangars Shouldn't Throw Stones »
January 06, 2011
Initial Unemployment Claims Data Continue to Fall
The Department of Labor released this week's Initial Unemployment Claims report, with only 409,000 claims filed last week. That's the 2nd lowest number of claims filed in over 2 years (though it'll likely drop to 3rd when they revise the number next week). The lowest number of claims (391K) was filed last the previous week. As you can see from this chart, these numbers are in line with the steady decline in claims that we've been reporting since last September.
![Initial-Unemployment-Filings-Dec3110Small.gif](http://ace.mu.nu/archives/Initial-Unemployment-Filings-Dec3110Small.gif)
And as we've noted for the past several months, there's a strong case to be made that the Claims data behavior has been strongly influenced key political events. I.e., responsibility for the stagnation from November 2009 through July 2010 can be laid at the incapable feet of the former Speaker of the House.