Winter storms to distort US jobless figures-Summers

[The Northerner]

Source: Reuters

WASHINGTON, March 1 (Reuters) - White House economic adviser Larry Summers said on Monday winter blizzards were likely to distort U.S. February jobless figures, which are due to be released on Friday.

"The blizzards that affected much of the country during the last month are likely to distort the statistics. So it's going to be very important ... to look past whatever the next figures are to gauge the underlying trends," Summers said in an interview with CNBC, according to a transcript.

Construction activity was hit particularly hard by the storms, but many restaurants and stores also had to close, putting the brakes on hiring plans and temporarily throwing some employees out of work.

Summers, director of the White House's National Economic Council, also said the United States was closely monitoring Greece's debt problems and U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner was encouraged by what he had heard from European officials about the issue.

Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSN0111549320100301?type=marketsNews

[DJ13]

1. "Its going to ba a bad number, so we want to get the excuse out now"

Anything to stave off a stock market retreat.

[Donnachaidh]

5. yup -- what's he going to blame in the spring?

High pollen counts?

[depakid]

7. Summers is just giving everyone a dose of reality here- and he's correct

though his credibility's been lost on other matters and is predictably bleeding over here.

[Hannah Bell]

2. the trend was more UE claims on the January report. Guess feb is going to be similar.

[Juneboarder]

3. We must find an excuse...

even if the numbers might be more realistic this month than any other...

:sarcasm:

[stuart68]

4. lame excuses

i thought you had to be out of work for a couple weeks before you can claim unemployment. the snow is gone already...

[OhioChick]

6. Oh what bullshit. n/t

[high density]

8. Blaming job losses on the weather?

Give me a break. Who closes a restaurant or store permanently because it's snowing out? Nobody.

[ozone_man]

9. Snow removal requires new jobs, yes?

Snow is a boon to the economy, skiing, tourism, snow removal. Disclaimer: Vermonter here. :)

I suspect this is more likely a deflection of bad economy figures about to come out revealing that the shyster economics of Summers, Rubin, Greenspan, Geithner, and Bernanke, are failing.