Posted on 05/08/2008 11:35:01 AM PDT by Brilliant
The number of newly laid off workers seeking unemployment benefits dropped much more than expected last week.
The Labor Department reported Thursday that applications for unemployment benefits fell to 365,000, a decline of 18,000 from the previous week. Economists had been looking for a much smaller decrease of around 5,000.
Weekly jobless claims have been exceptionally volatile in recent weeks because of strike-related layoffs in the auto industry and an unusually early Easter, which has played havoc with the government's seasonal adjustment measurements.
Many economists believe that a prolonged housing slump and severe credit crisis have pushed the economy into a recession. For that reason, they believe job layoffs will rise in coming months as the unemployment rate climbs higher.
Ian Shepherdson, chief U.S. economist for High Frequency Economics, said that even with the improvement this week, claims are now at a level equal to where they were at the start of the last recession in March 2001. He predicted that layoffs would increase further in coming months.
However, many economists believe that job losses will be less severe than in previous recessions because they are expecting this downturn to be relatively mild and brief. The Bush administration is counting on 130 million economic stimulus payments to boost consumer spending and trigger a rebound in growth starting this summer.
The Labor Department reported last week that employers cut jobs for a fourth straight month, often a sign of a recession, but the job loss of 20,000 was much smaller than had been expected and was well below the 81,000 jobs lost in March.
In other economic news, consumers gave retailers some relief in April after a long stretch of dismal sales. Early reports from the nation's big chain stores showed customers bought the basics at discounters and wholesale clubs, putting Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and Costco Wholesale Corp. among the top performers last month.
Analysts predicted that the flood of rebate checks will boost sales in coming months, helping to offset soaring gasoline prices and falling home values.
The report on jobless claims showed that the total number of laid off workers receiving benefits dipped slightly to 3.02 million for the week ending April 26 but remained above the 3 million-mark for the second straight week.
For the week ending April 26, 32 states and territories had a drop in initial claims while 21 had increases.
The biggest increase was in Massachusetts, a rise of 5,591 that was attributed to higher layoffs in transportation, services and public administration.
Other states with big increases were New York, up 4,648; Kentucky, up 3,776, and New Jersey, up 3,521.
The state with the biggest decline was Texas, where jobless claims fell by 3,373, reflecting fewer layoffs in trade, service and manufacturing industries. Other states with large declines were Rhode Island, down 1,835; California, down 1,689, and Pennsylvania, down 1,597.
This cannot be true!...............
With the exception of KY, all are Dem Dominated Governments.....
Good grief, how much more can Senator Reid’s face frown before it pops inside out???
Blue states hardest hit.
“Many economists believe that a prolonged housing slump and severe credit crisis have pushed the economy into a recession.”
Yet we have yet to post our first quarter of negative growth and a recession requires two consecutive ones.
We're doomed!
Would be interesting to see a graph of projected jobless claims vs. actual over the last 10-20 years.
This is clearly the biggest non-recession in history.
Clearly a majority of the uemployed have simply given up and committed suicide, thus eliminating the need to file a claim. /Doom and Gloom Freeper mode off
The Global Warming we get this time every year is very good for construction.
Yes. Depending on when Global Warming migrates South for the winter, layoffs will rise sharply between mid-November and mid-December.
You don't need to be an economist to understand this stuff.
They've been saying that for the last 17 months, yet the REAL economy just doesn't seem to want to cooperate with them.
It’s interesting that MA already has universal health insurance, and NJ and NY are considering it. I guess the employers are getting out while the getting is good.
“Experts” wrong again! How many times can an expert be wrong before losing the title “expert?”
That’s if you believe government CPI and GDP statistics.
It always amazes me that conservatives, who don’t usually trust government to do anything well, think their statistics aren’t cooked.
And the government was behind 9-11 as well.
I don’t think so but maybe you can provide proof ?
As for statistics ... if you believe the government numbers you are a fool, put bluntly.
Some small examples; I already wrote the thesis long ago.
Unemployment - do you know what the birth/death numbers are and how they fit into the unemployment statistic ?
Inflation - do you understand the methodology of the calculation, what’s included, how they calculate heuristics and the weight they have, and the effect of the changes to the methodology that was made in 1885 ?
If you can’t answer the above then you have no valid opinion on the statistics.
1885 = 1995
off-key by 1.
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