Chart of Initial Jobless Claims

lnitial Jobless Claims in the most recent week hit their highest level since July 1992 with a reading of 542,000.  For those interested in looking at a depressing chart, below we highlight historical Initial Jobless Claims and compare it to the S&P 500 (logarithmic).  While 542,000 is very high, it still has a ways to go to top the highest level of 695,000 seen in October 1982.