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Thread: Initial jobless claims fell to 340,000 last week, near 5-year low

  1. #1

    Initial jobless claims fell to 340,000 last week, near 5-year low

    http://www.latimes.com/business/mone...,6738824.story
    Fewer jobs being lost but still not enough new ones being created.
    By Jim Puzzanghera
    March 7, 2013, 6:31 a.m.



    WASHINGTON -- New jobless claims dropped again last week to 340,000, near a post-Great Recession low, and the less volatile four-week average fell to its lowest level in five years, the Labor Department said Thursday.

    The data were another sign of improvement in the labor market ahead of Friday's February unemployment report, despite tax increases that took effect on Jan. 1.

    Analysts project that the economy added about 160,000 jobs last month and that the unemployment rate remains at 7.9%.

    Economists had expected initial jobless claims to rise last week to about 355,000.

    Instead, the number of people filing for unemployment benefits for the first time fell by 7,000 from the previous week's revised figure of 347,000, the Labor Department said.

    Economists say that weekly jobless claims below 350,000 indicate moderate growth in the labor market.

    The new figure is close to the five-year low of 330,000, reached in mid-January. And the overall trend has been downward in recent weeks after seasonally adjusted claims spiked to 371,000 at the end of January.

    The four-week average, which smoothes out the data, also fell by 7,000 last week, to 348,750. That was the lowest level since early March 2008, as the Great Recession was just starting to have an effect on the jobs market.

    A year later, the economy was averaging about 660,000 new jobless claims a week.



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  3. #2
    Damn, it's almost as if things are getting better.

  4. #3

  5. #4
    More announced layoffs planned , by survey , than previous month. Do the math on 333,000 for a year.No , it is not getting better....

  6. #5
    Darn. Another month and things get worse, again. Plus, on top of all of this, paychecks are shrinking
    Lifetime member of more than 1 national gun organization and the New Hampshire Liberty Alliance. Part of Young Americans for Liberty and Campaign for Liberty. Free State Project participant and multi-year Free Talk Live AMPlifier.

  7. #6
    Quote Originally Posted by Carson View Post
    Sounds like the two year extension on benefits ran out on a few people.
    Running out of benefits does not automaticallly remove you from the work force. To be considered not in the work force you need to be not looking for any jobs for at least two months. If you are still looking- if you are getting any benefits or not- you are counted as in the work force.

    http://enews.earthlink.net/article/b...7-3080b57db00e
    US adds 236K jobs, unemployment falls to 7.7 pct.


    From Associated Press
    March 08, 2013 1:17 PM EST
    WASHINGTON (AP) — A burst of hiring last month added 236,000 U.S. jobs and reduced the unemployment rate to 7.7 percent from 7.9 percent in January. The robust gains suggested that the economy can strengthen further despite higher taxes and government spending cuts.

    The February jobs report issued Friday by the Labor Department provided encouraging details: The unemployment rate is at its lowest level in four years. Job growth has averaged more than 200,000 a month since November. Wages rose. And the job gains were broad-based, led by the most construction hiring in six years.

    Employers have been emboldened by a rebounding U.S. economy. The housing, auto and manufacturing sectors have improved. Corporate profits are strong. And the Dow Jones industrial average is at a record high.

    The unemployment rate, which had been stuck at 7.8 percent or above since September, declined mostly because more people found work. Another factor was that 130,000 people without jobs stopped looking for work last month. The government doesn't count them as unemployed.

  8. #7
    And if a company goes from 300 workers @ 40 hours a week to 400 @ 30 because of Obamacare,employment there increases by a third,I guess.

  9. #8
    Quote Originally Posted by mad cow View Post
    And if a company goes from 300 workers @ 40 hours a week to 400 @ 30 because of Obamacare,employment there increases by a third,I guess.
    I talk to business owners all the time. This is happening more than people want to know.



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  11. #9
    this is bogus. It doesn't address the I think 86,000 more that joined the long term unemployment number and aren't counted because their benefits ran out. I'll find that labor chart Ron tweeted last month.

    --
    It has been updated:

    Data extracted on: March 8, 2013 (3:25:31 PM)

    Labor Force Statistics from the Current Population Survey

    Series Id: LNS12300000
    Seasonally Adjusted
    Series title: (Seas) Employment-Population Ratio
    Labor force status: Employment-population ratio
    Type of data: Percent or rate
    Age: 16 years and over




    https://twitter.com/RonPaul/status/297366676222128129
    "Integrity means having to say things that people don't want to hear & especially to say things that the regime doesn't want to hear.” -Ron Paul

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  12. #10
    Once those bene's run out you're own your own!!!

  13. #11
    I get the whole thing about people dropping out of the workforce being beneficial to their unemployment numbers but there has been a notable increase in monthly job growth lately. Point is, why isn't the administration shouting this from the roof tops rather than taking the cautiously optimistic tact? Probably because they don't want to highlight that "spending cuts" are worthwhile. At least, that's the way Jerry Doyle was breaking it down.



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