Food Stamps Hire People

Initial claims in the U.S. were having a very positive trend lately. Today, we have initial claims coming out at 370K, which is a miss of estimates. Will the trend reverse upwards?




Chart 1: Initial Claims




It looks like the trend is positive, but when looking at the food stamps participation rate on Chart 2, it hasn't gone down a bit. Increasingly more Americans are on food stamps. 




Chart 2: Food Stamps Participation





But as Jesse Jackson says: "Food Stamps Hire People", unemployment will decline ever more rapidly.





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