Tag: jobless claims

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Economic growth Politics

Good News – Jobless Claims at 8 Year Lows

There are multiple reasons why the jobless claims data fall. The best reason however, is confidence in the economy, which leads to economic growth, which leads to fewer jobless claims being filed.

The number of unemployed workers applying for jobless benefits tumbled in the most recent weekly data to the lowest level in more than eight years, signaling that employers are letting go of very few workers.

Applicants for regular state unemployment-insurance benefits in the week that ended July 19 dropped by 19,000 to 284,000 — the lowest level since February 2006, the U.S. Labor Department reported Thursday. Economists surveyed by MarketWatch had expected initial claims of 310,000 in the most recent weekly data.

The yield on the 10-year Treasury 10_YEAR +1.98%    edged higher, indicating traders growing slightly more confident in the economy.

Categories
Politics Unemployment

Report – 175,000 Jobs Added in February

After two months of reporting weak job growth, the Bureau of Labor Statistics said Friday that, seasonally adjusted, 162,000 new private jobs were created in February. Government at all levels hired 13,000. The official unemployment rate—which BLS calls U3 and calculates in a separate survey—rose to 6.7 percent.

The bureau revised its previously reported results for December from 75,000 to 84,000, and in January from 113,000 to 129,000. That brought the three-month average to 129,000. At that rate, it would take until September 2023 to return us to the pre-recession employment situation while absorbing the people who enter the labor force each month. At 175,000 a month, it would take until January 2020.

In the previous three years (2011-2013), seasonally adjusted job growth for the December-January period averaged a monthly 103,000, 261,000 and 230,000 respectively.

Categories
Politics unemployment rate

First Unemployment Falls, Now Jobless Claims Falls – More Economic Progress

Last time we checked, the unemployment rate fell to 7.7%, the lowest jobless rate since December of 2008. And now, first time jobless claims are also falling.

First-time jobless claims fell by 10,000 to 332,000 in the week ended March 9, the fewest since mid January, according to data today from the Labor Department in Washington. The median forecast of 49 economists surveyed by Bloomberg called for an increase to 350,000. The four-week average declined to a five- year low.

Managers are maintaining staffing levels as consumers sustain spending even after a two percentage-point increase in the payroll tax at the start of the year reduced paychecks. Nonetheless, there remains a risk that the recent pickup in employment will be cut short as federal budget cutbacks prompt companies and government agencies to trim payrolls.

“The rate of job destruction is pretty low,” said Scott Brown, chief economist at Raymond James & Associates in St. Petersburg, Florida, who projected the number of claims would drop to 338,000. “The labor market is in continued-recovery mode, though there is still a lot of ground to make up.”

The economy is improving, in spite of all the road blocks Washington politicians are putting up.

Categories
Politics Unemployment

First Time Unemployment Claims Fall To Five Year Low

Don’t look! This is something Republicans don’t want you to know. As far as they’re concerned, things are worse now under Obama than they were under Bush.

But as usual, the facts say something completely different.

First-time claims for unemployment benefits plummeted by 37,000 in just one week, falling to 335,000 from 372,000 the previous week, the Labor Department said Thursday. That’s the lowest since January 2008.

The weekly number is much lower than economists had expected. Forecasts had predicted a total of 370,000 in the week ended Jan. 12, according to a consensus compiled by Briefing.com…

The weekly tally of jobless claims has improved dramatically over the last four years. Initial claims surged above 600,000 during the height of the recession, but by the end of 2011, had fallen below 400,000.

Last year, initial claims tended to stay in the range of 350,000 to 400,000, aside from a temporary bump due to Superstorm Sandy.

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