Glimmers in the Unemployment Numbers

Jobless claims were up by another 2.98 million last week, according to figures out yesterday. But there might be a a small sign of encouragement: The incremental increase of less than half a million was the most modest weekly change since early in March.

It's not just that continuing claims rose by 456,000, but the fact the increase was from a downwardly revised previous reading. The prior week’s count of new jobless was revised down to 22.38 million.

There are little reasons for optimism popping up all over the country. Sixteen states posted a decline in the number of people collecting benefits in the week ended May 2.