Despite the improving trend of initial unemployment claims (still at very high levels), little attention has been paid to the escalating number of people who are exhausting their benefit and falling into the Emergency Compensation category. Although the government is likely to indefinitely extend these Emergency benefits, recipients aren't likely to be buying plasma TVs, new homes, cars, iPhones (just kidding - they'll still buy their iPhone), name-brand canned goods, teeth whitener, etc.
From ZeroHedge:
The number you won't hear mentioned anywhere in the Mainstream Media: 327,729. That is how many people shifted to Emergency Unemployment Compensation programs in the last week alone, hitting an all time record high of 4.2 million! So as everyone is focused on the benign picture of initial claims in the last week which was "only" 474,000, the number of people rolling off continuing benefits has exploded and is now a stunning 592,579 only in the last two week.
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