tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35447100.post-4757363224357366252007-06-08T12:45:00.001-06:002007-06-08T13:14:45.075-06:00Yesterday, the department of labor <a href="http://www.dol.gov/opa/media/press/eta/ui/current.htm">released their latest</a> Unemployment Claims weekly report. This gives us a great opportunity to compare media coverage to direct source material.<br /><br />From the report itself:<br /><blockquote>"The advance number of actual initial claims under state programs, unadjusted, totaled 261,509 in the week ending June 2, a decrease of 12,407 from the previous week. There were 260,263 initial claims in the comparable week in 2006."</blockquote><a href="http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,278888,00.html">Fox News</a> leads by saying:<br /><span><span style="font-size:100%;"><blockquote>"<span name="intelliTxt" id="intelliTXT"><strong><span style="font-weight: normal;">Th</span><span style="font-weight: normal;">e number of U.S. workers signing up for unemployment aid edged down slightly last week, the Labor Department said on Thursday in a report underscoring stability in the labor market despite sluggish growth.</span></strong></span>"</blockquote></span></span><br />The USA Today also accentuated the positive by stating "the report suggest[ed] that the labor market remains healthy despite a slowdown in economic growth." Basically, the argument in both cases is that with fewer people filing claims, more people must be working, <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">YAY</span>!<br /><br />So, who out there wants to take on the negative? Well, for one, the claim drop did not happen across the board, as "[t]he largest increases in initial claims for the week ending May 26 were in Texas, Michigan, New York, Oregon, and Indiana." Caveat: this list is based on the seasonally unadjusted data. The report also points out that more states had an increase of 1000 people filing claims, than did states having a decrease of 1000 people filing claims.<br /><br />While it is true that the report basically paints a pretty picture, at least on a state-by-state basis, someone must highlight the negative.<br /><br />I'm asking for your help. The Source Diverse readers generally have great suggestions. Can you dig up some articles which take <a href="http://www.dol.gov/opa/media/press/eta/ui/current.htm">the report </a>and slant or highlight the negative? Hint: Try local papers. Double hint: Try local papers in Texas, Michigan, New York, Oregon, and Indiana.<br /><br />Or, can you form your own opinions of the report? In this day and age, where the public gets direct access, via the web, to this kind of source material there is no reason to just take what is written about the material as gospel. Dig in, get your hands dirty.<br /><br />Enjoy your day.<br /><br /><blockquote><span style="font-size:100%;"><blockquote><br /></blockquote></span></blockquote>Matthewhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04438735485435533718noreply@blogger.com