The number of unemployment claims filed last week jumped by 22,000 from the prior week. USA Today told readers that analysts expected that claims would fall by 19,000. It is hard to understand why anyone who analyzes economic data for a living would have expected unemployment claims to fall from the prior week.
In that week heavy snowstorms on the East Coast had made it difficult for many workers to get to unemployment insurance offices and in some cases even forced their closing. It should have been obvious that claims would jump last week as people prevented by the weather from filing earlier would turn up last week. That is why the relatively high level of claims reported two weeks ago should have been given more attention.
A second Trump administration will cement a right-wing majority on the Supreme Court for a generation, and put our collective future in the hands of someone who will be virtually unchecked by our institutions. The country has shifted rightward, and the reverberations will ensue for potentially the next few decades. In this climate, a robust independent media ecosystem will be more important than ever. We're committed to bringing you the latest news on how Trump's agenda will actually affect the American people, shining a light on the stories corporate media overlooks and keeping the public informed about how power really works in this country.
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