Humanizing weekly unemployment claims

It’s been a heavy few days of jobs and consumer behavior data, and there’s plenty more headed your way.

Weekly jobless figures are due out at 8:30 a.m. from the Labor Department; check the department’s media center for today’s release and to sign up for automatic e-mail feeds.

Sometimes, when reporting on this weekly release, a standing infographic may be all that you’ll want to do, unless you can tie the data to a local or regional event such as a job fair, a story on retraining programs or funding, new layoffs or other related events affecting your audience. Scout calendars and check with your region’s unemployment and retraining agencies for those human angles that add color and interest to bald statistics.

Be sure to include dollar signs – tell your readers what those unemployment checks are worth; the amounts vary by state and by the previous wage of the claimant so check with your local agencies to see how your state’s benefits compare with the national average of about $292 a week. This federally sponsored site, CareerOnestop, provides a map with quick links to state unemployment services.

To quickly generate a jobless claims chart, scroll to the bottom of the news release on the Labor Department’s site and click on ‘State Detail Prior Week,’ then click ‘Weekly Claims Data’ on the resulting page. You’ll be able to select your state and set date parameters, producing an instant table of historical data that reflects initial claims and ongoing unemployment insurance claims each week.

This report includes a comments section highlighting states with the greatest change, with a few notes about what’s behind the numbers; those notes can guide you to a more substantive focus.

You might also build on the seasonal angle; by now, most students have finished their terms and are competing for summer jobs with laid-off adults and retirees propelled back into the workforce by shriveled retirement portfolios. Take a look at teen unemployment in your region – state workforce development agencies often can help with statistics or at least ‘guestimates’ – and then at the ripple effect of all of those out-of-work Millenials. With their purchasing power scaled back, how are local venues from malls to movie theaters feeling the pinch?

One warning: The weekly jobless claims report reflects “insured unemployment,” meaning those eligible for jobless benefits. The rates shown in tables do not reflect statewide or national full unemployment as mentioned in the Employment Situation report discussed in Monday’s blog; the rate in the monthly Employment Situation report is generally regarded as the true unemployment rate.
Yes, it can be confusing, so here’s a primer on unemployment data offered by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. With jobs – or the lack thereof – likely to be a key facet of most business stories in the foreseeable future, understanding the available data is well worth your time and effort.

And if you’re planning a weekend feature about the plight of area job-seekers, Friday will bring fresh news in the form of the University of Michigan Index of Consumer Sentiment, a respected consumer confidence indicator based on telephone interviews with some 500 households. Thomson Reuters is a joint sponsor and their site provides a more comprehensive release, with an explanation of methodology, than the rather primitive U of M site.