RS8 - Unemployment

Planet Money did a podcast on the Unemployment rate and it was actually very interesting and also informative on how the unemployment rate has an effect on the stock market.  If you have money to invest you can make a killing by just knowing whether the unemployment numbers will be up or down compared to the last months numbers.  All it takes is for you to know the numbers before they are released and you are instantly rich because you have the inside scoop. 

The Planet Money team did some research through a visit to the The Bureau of Labor Statistics where they keep the records of the unemployment numbers.  This office of the government is a very secure place and even being inside the building you still are not allowed to know much and the employees are not allowed to reveal very much information.  Out of the four weeks in a month, guests are only allowed to be in the The Bureau of Labor Statistics only one week of the whole month.  Reason being that the Bureau is on lock down for the two weeks prior to the statistics being released.  Only certain employees have information about certain numbers, they are sworn to secrecy and not even their fellow employees are allowed to know the information that they are dealing with.  

Listening to the podcast, they described how several years back a economist was on the The Bureau of Labor Statistics website and found a link that was listed as new.  He then went and clicked on the link and brought him to what was the unemployment stats that were supposed to be listed the following day. Instead of taking this information and turning it into a personal profit he changed his analysis and posted it and within seconds was getting calls about it.  What he did was not illegal as it was a mistake by The Bureau of Labor Statistics.  So The Bureau of Labor Statistics had no other option, and had to release their information a day early.  So now they have many upon many security blankets so something like this will no occur again.

Personally if I was the economist who found that information I would have turned it into a personal gain. Through this podcast I learn that knowing this confidential information is pretty key into making financial gains.  It may be unethical but at the end of the day there would be nothing they could do because it is the fault of Bureau of Labor Statistics.