In alt.home.repair, on Fri, 7 May 2021 12:28:30 -0700 (PDT),
" wrote:

On Friday, May 7, 2021 at 2:11:23 PM UTC-4, micky wrote:
OT Why does the press routinely report the number of new applications
for unemployment insurance for the week (or the day?), and whether the
number has gone up or down?

It seems to me that the number of NEW cases in any period is almost
random, depending on when employers decide they have to lay people off,
and that's influenced by a dozen factors. Therefore it can go up or down
without meaning anything.

If you graph those numbers, they can show a trend even if there's some
jitter in the data.

Cindy Hamilton

But don't they know the total number getting unemployment and if they
reported that it would be a better measure, both on a graph or without a
graph.