It’s unfortunate that many journalists lack good intuitions about how to look at data. Here’s the latest example: via Andrew Sullivan, a claim that jobs are on a downward trend based on this chart. Can you see the problem?
Here’s the answer:
the data fluctuate up and down, and it could be random. This jobs report is likely to have some imprecision, which is not reported. That’s too bad because this “trend,” as claimed by Matt Yglesias, might well be followed by a jump up. Take a look at other times, in the same chart, where a high report is followed by three lows in a row. I have indicated them with red arrows.

But look what happens in the following month! A high report, a low report, and a high report. In other words, there is no predicting what will happen next based on data of this quality.

The point I am making could be made in an up-front manner by including a measure of the uncertainty. In this case, basic training on how to look at data could also help.

Update: a far better chart is here at Kevin Drum’s always-good blog.