by Wolf Richter
Wolf Street
In an economy screaming for labor, the data is becoming clearer, despite breathless media coverage to the contrary.
OK, it’s complicated, as they say, and the weekly unemployment claims data were never designed to be used as precision tracking tool. But it is important. So we’ll take a careful look to get beyond the noise.
Turns out, despite breathless media coverage to the contrary, ending the extra federal $300 a week in unemployment benefits, as over half the states have already done, is indeed encouraging more people to go back to work – in an economy that is screaming for labor.