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Politics : Idea Of The Day -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: IQBAL LATIF who wrote (39683)	5/16/2001 10:53:56 AM
From: IQBAL LATIF	Respond to of 50167

One of the most sensitive economic barometers is the number of unemployment insurance claims reported by the Bureau of Labor Statistics each Thursday morning. UI claims are an actual count of the number of people who have recently lost their jobs and are distressed enough to ask the government for help. Since it is a count and not based on a survey, it is not subject to the measurement biases that plague other economic data and render them less useful at economic turning points. Mark Zindi in dismal column today.. UI claims have risen strongly over the past year, from a nadir of close to 275,000 per week last spring to near 400,000 in recent weeks. The 400,000 mark is particularly important, since it was when UI claims breached that level a decade ago that the economy was firmly in the grips of recession. While 400,00 in UI claims may not be consistent with a recession today since the labor force is some 30 million larger than it was a decade ago, it at the very least signals that the economy is experiencing little if any job growth. Moreover, until UI claims consistently fall back below this threshold, the expansion will remain at substantial risk of slipping away.