Withholding Data - 2Q08 Spreadsheet

This chart shows how the quarter-over-quarter withholding data calculation is evolving. As you can see, the range is narrowing as we proceed through the quarter:

On this spreadsheet, you can see the up-coming numbers from May 2007 that we will be comparing against as the month unfolds. The first row shows the totals for the first 21 business days of April 2007 and April 2008:

The month of April finished at -2.52% compared to April 2007. There were 21 business days in April 2007, and 22 this April, so the comparison is based upon the first 21 business days of April 2008. The last business day is pushed over into May on the spreadsheet above, which will even out the number of days compared to May 2007.

5 Responses to “Withholding Data - 2Q08 Spreadsheet”

  1. dressguard Says:
    April 29th, 2008 at 3:17 pm

    I am astonished April will be a tie. If we are in a recession, shouldn’t the
    numbers show this more clearly? How where the other months in comparison?
    Have we seen other tie-months that showed growing unemployment?

    Thanks. I love your site!!!

  2. admin Says:
    April 29th, 2008 at 3:33 pm

    Hi dressguard,

    Since we are comparing to April 2007, you have to keep in mind that the economy was adding jobs for the remainder of 2007. If April 2008 is a tie with April 2007, then you have to assume that all the jobs added in the last eight months of 2007 are now gone.

    Take a look at the main Withholding page for more details.

    Glad you like the site. I will be adding more economic indicators as time permits.

    Matt

  3. dressguard Says:
    April 29th, 2008 at 4:20 pm

    Good point! You are smart, Matt!

  4. curlydan Says:
    May 2nd, 2008 at 3:13 pm

    curious as to why you compare 5/1/2008 with 5/2/2007? Wouldn’t it be better to compare 5/1/08 with 5/3/07 (a true day-to-day comparison with 07 due to leap year?)

  5. admin Says:
    May 2nd, 2008 at 3:41 pm

    curlydan,

    I can see why you might think that the spreadsheet above is comparing day-to-day, but it really isn’t. The growth percentage is calculated from the running totals. Those two days are in the same row because they are both the 23rd business day of their respective quarters.

    The leap day was in the first quarter, and we are only looking at the second quarters here.

    Matt

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