Fine tuning the jobs numbers

The administration released the new unemployment numbers and they were down significantly. The other economic indicators did not reflect this down-tick so people are asking why. Ex-GE CEO Jack Welsh wrote about this yesterday. Now, from CNBC we see a possible explanation:

Why Jobless Claims May Not Be as Good as Market Thinks
For the second time in a week, a government unemployment report is sowing confusion�and may not be as positive as the markets think.

First it was last Friday's August payrolls report, which showed an unexpectedly large drop in the unemployment rate, that spurred confusion (and conspiracy theories). Now, a sharp drop in the pace of new jobless claims has also left people scratching their heads.

The Labor Department on Thursday said the number of people filing jobless claims last week dropped by a seasonally adjusted 30,000�a pretty sharp decline, and one that left the total number of filings at a four-year low of 339,000.

And there is this little tid-bit:

While the government didn�t note any unusual factors in the release itself, a Labor Department official did tell news agencies covering the release about a quirk which partly accounted for the larger-than-expected drop.

As Dow Jones reported: �A Labor Department economist said one large state didn't report additional quarterly figures as expected, accounting for a substantial part of the decrease.�

And more:

In other words, the drop of 30,000 last week had more to do with the lack of expected re-filings at the start of the fourth quarter than with any particular improvement in labor market conditions.

More information at the site -- wonder which state it is? CA? IL?