Is this the real deal? Yesterday’s update on new jobless claims, which fell to a 3-1/2 year low last week, suggests that the labor market will continue growing, perhaps at slightly faster rates than we’ve seen in 2011. “This is unexpectedly great news,” says Ian Shepherdson at High Frequency Economics. But skepticism abounds, and rightly so. There have been several false starts to the recovery since the Great Recession was officially declared at an end in June 2009. There’s no way to know for sure if the latest drop in new filings for unemployment benefits signals a true turning point for the better this time, but the possibility can’t be dismissed either, at least not yet.