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[bryant]

Wow, those are certainly some attractive jobless numbers there. In fact, they’re so good I stole the graphic so I could stick it up here.

Damn, but that’s good. So good, I decided to reformat it a bit so I could admire it again.

Oh. And I guess employment dropped by 41,000 anyhow. So, uh… what’s unemployment look like, anyhow?

As they say, all this really means is that the rate of increase has decreased.

Comments

[gentlyepigrams]

Amazingly, I don't feel so keen on those sexy numbers and the rosy view of the economy they're supposed to be showing right now. Call me cynical, or just unemployed.

[bryant]

Yeah, the much vaunted drop in jobless claims a) isn't much of a drop and b) doesn't mean unemployment has dropped.

[gentlyepigrams]

I think part of my problem is that my perception of the economy comes in large part from the gut-o-meter. Maybe it's because I know so many people in software/IT, but my gut says too many of my friends are unemployed or scared of losing their jobs for me to feel really confident in anything approaching an economic recovery.

And the jobless claims only tell half the story there. It's job loss vs. job creation, and I don't *feel* like there's a lot of that.

Wow

[mechagm.livejournal.com]

That first one is, quite possibly, one of the most artfully deciptive histograms I have seen in a long while. It suckered me for a little bit. I just didn't notice that the x-axis wasn't set to zero... boggle.

As someone who majored in Economic theory in college (and who is now in business school), I habitually keep an eye on the economy... and all of the (sane) analysts that I have read seem to be saying that while the economy *is* improving (we are *technically* out of the recession) that the (hopefully) eventual fall in the unemployment rate will likely lag behind by around a year or so. So, about this time next year, from what I've been reading, is when we should start to see unemployment start to drop back down.

That's what I have been reading, at least. My gut feeling on the numbers I have been looking at over the past year or so make me want to agree with that. (which is why I decided to go back to school and get an MBA, the job market should have stabilized and probably improved bu the time I graduate ::crosses fingers::)

Nice catch on that first graph, I am still amused by the audacity of the attempted deception.

-peterB

Tufte! Tufte! Tufte!

[space-parasite.livejournal.com]

The Visual Display of Quantitative Information

Envisioning Information

Visual Explanations: Images and Quantities, Evidence and Narrative

[yessod.livejournal.com]

Have you read "How to Lie with Statistics"? This really reminded me of that. Excellent graphs, btw.