Just Keep Spinning...Just Keep Spinning...

The merry-go-round of unemployment spinning never stops:

[T]he number of people requesting continued jobless benefits rose to a record high, indicating that the labor market remains weak.

The government said continuing claims rose to 6,883,000 in the week ended June 27, the most recent data available.

That's an increase of 159,000 from the previous week's revised total of 6,724,000 and was the highest reading since the Labor Department began keeping records in 1967.

But here's how CNN begins the report:

The number of Americans filing initial unemployment claims fell sharply last week, while those filing ongoing claims rose to another all-time high, according to government data released Thursday.

There were 565,000 initial jobless claims filed in the week ended July 4, down 52,000 from a revised 617,000 the previous week, the Labor Department said.

It was the lowest number since January and was below the consensus estimate of 603,000 from economists surveyed by Briefing.com.

Analysts said last week's drop was distorted by a change in the pattern of seasonal layoffs in the automotive industry.

Slublog at AoS summarizes:

In other words, the "good news" is that plants closed earlier this year than normal, so the job numbers "improved."

Let me off this merry-go-round...I think I'm going to throw up.

There's my two cents.