One of my regular reads is The Liscio Report, from Philippa Dunne & Doug Henwood. Each month they survey every state as to where they are on tax revenues and whether they met their goals and forecasts. Over time you begin to see patterns, and so the report really is a variance look at the economy. They also touch on all things labor and unemployment. Philippa is my go-to source when I need some piece of BLS data interpreted, or even just know where to find it. She has regular conversations with the actual people in BLS who put those reports together. This latest Liscio Report is rather more optimistic than the one at this time last year. Philippa has kindly given me permission to send it to you. It's a rather pricey newsletter, but if this is the kind of data and analysis you can use in your business, you can find out more at http://www.tlranalytics.com. There is one chart that really amazes me: Initial unemployment claims are at what looks like an all-time low relative to employment. No wonder all of the general optimism polls are touching their 30-year highs. I just hope we can keep it going for a lot longer. Bull markets are so much more fun.