Jobs lost but unemployment claims oddly decline

As the economy continues with its rough patch, the people of the United States become more and more anxious to find ways to make ends meet. According to The New York Times, local governments are making history by making the biggest job cuts in 30 years, ever since the 1981-2 recession. The article states that 76, 000 government jobs have been lost and 143,000 in just 3 months, while private employers have been hiring at an increasing rate. In addition, USA Today adds the federal government has also recently made approximately 77,000  cuts form the U.S. Census, "as expected". However, with all these unemployed individuals, not many of them seem to be rushing to apply for unemployment benefits according to Los Angeles Times. The number of new files claims dropped 11,000 in the latest week, and the Los Angeles Times believes it's because there is a small "steady increase in job creation." It is unclear if the job is actually increasing or decreasing.

The 3 month change in local-government jobs.
(Bureau of Labor Statistics, via Haver)

-Betty Villalobos 10/8/2010