Reply #1: Well that's bad news of course, but is only half the story

[dmallind]

I'll be much more likely to see the glass as half empty if NET jobs are lost. Right now we are seeing a lot of churning activity with people getting into and out of the work force, and initial claims only look at those who are beginning a claim, not those who are ending one. If we lose jobs in April overall then I'll start getting a bit more pessimistic, but this is not enough on its own.

BTW anybody notice that +24K is a "surge" and -24K is a "drop slightly" when it comes to initial claims? Shouldn't an equal drop be a "plummet", or an equal increase a "slight increase"?