Economics
U.S. Jobless Claims Report Marred by Inaccuracy, Quirk
- Connecticut error overstated state’s initial claims by 269,000
- California’s continuing claims may reflect biweekly filing
This article is for subscribers only.
A clerical error and a data-collection quirk brought significant distortions to the latest U.S. jobless claims report, which has taken on elevated importance as the coronavirus pandemic upends the labor market.
Connecticut said Thursday afternoon that it incorrectly reported unemployment claims as a whopping 298,680, about 10 times higher than the correct number of 29,846. The error likely inflated the U.S. Department of Labor’s reported national figure of 2.98 million, which exceeded economists’ median projection by almost half a million.