First Time Claims Data a Renoir

"Every week the US Department of Labor and Birth/Death Adjustments dutifully reports two sets of numbers on first time and continuing unemployment claims. One set is the actual number of people filing claims as tabulated by the 50 states. The other is a fictionalized number which purports to smooth out the seasonal variances so that the trend can be represented more clearly. One number is real. The other is fake, but is like a work of abstract impressionaism. It represents the statistician's impression of reality, and for some people that works. Hey, beauty is in the eye of the beholder. I like photo realism myself."