Tornado Alley (PROG)

[DrHarleyboy]

Pretty much means nothing; I'm sure if our government handed you a cat-shit sandwich and told you it was caviar you would gobble it up!

Moreover, initial jobless claims are an imperfect measure of layoffs because the propensity to file a claim—often called the “filing rate” or the “take up rate”—also changes over time. During the financial crisis, for example, the benefit take up rate increased significantly. Exhibit 2 shows the level of jobless claims alongside the measure of total layoffs from the Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS) (claims here are expressed as a monthly rate by multiplying the average weekly rate by the number of weeks per months). Before 2007, approximately 70-80% of layoffs resulted in an unemployment insurance benefit filing. During the recession, claims increased more rapidly than reported layoffs, implying an increase in the claims filing rate. In the years since, claims have fallen much faster than layoffs, implying a decline in the benefit take up rate.

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-10-22/initial-jobless-claims-hover-42-year-lows-so-who-lying