Jobless Claims: Good On Surface But Is The Recovery Slowing?

As with every other Thursday, today brought two new pieces of information to labor market observers – the initial and continuing unemployment claims figures.  On the surface, the Labor Department’s figures paint a pretty rosy picture, with initial claims declining to a near four year low at 343 K and continuing claims dropping to 3.198 million from 4.421 million four years ago.

Should investors be worried about the rosy picture?  Well, probably.

First on the initial claims...