We are in a "no firing, no hiring" economy right now, but new unemployment claims are up. Could it be a sign that things are about to change? Due to recent events, the economic tea leaves are harder to read than ever.
The number of American filing for unemployment is up, but still in a range that economists consider healthy. But new hiring has barely budged, too, and UNO professor Walter "Dub" Lane says it's not easy to for even the experts to figure out what's going on right now.
"Because of the government closure, we don't have data from that last two months, very much," said Lane. "So without all our data that the Bureau of Labor Statistics shut down, so we really don't know quite what's happening."
So despite superficial data that show a healthy employment picture, the federal reserve voted for a third straight interest rate cut, while economists wait for another month or two to get more complete info on what's happening.