Posted on 08/07/2014 6:33:35 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
The number of people who filed for unemployment assistance in the U.S. last week fell more than expected, fuelling optimism over the strength of the labor market, official data showed on Thursday.
In a report, the U.S. Department of Labor said the number of individuals filing for initial jobless benefits in the week ending August 2 decreased by 14,000 to a seasonally adjusted 289,000 from the previous week’s total of 303,000.
Analysts had expected jobless claims to rise by 2,000 to 305,000 last week.
Continuing jobless claims in the week ended July 26 fell to 2.518 million from 2.542 million in the preceding week. Analysts had expected continuing claims to fall to 2.512 million.
The four-week moving average was 293,500, a decrease of 4,000 from the previous week’s total of 297,500.
(Excerpt) Read more at investing.com ...
The news reports say this is an 8 YEAR LOW !!
The great economic reports just keep gushing in! If the economic tide keeps rising maybe even my own boat will begin to float. I can’t hardly wait.
Does anybody really believe anything that comes out of DC anymore?
All we are to the self-anointed elites are mindless worker bees who happen to pay for everything. Beyond that, they have no responsibility to us other than feeding us whatever crap necessary to prevent a full scale insurrection.
“seasonally adjusted” = politically adjusted.
Those who are unemployed do not believe any of this communist propaganda.
Those who are working part-time when they working full-time do not believe any of this communist propaganda.
Those who are working two jobs when they were working one do not believe any of this communist propaganda.
Those who live in areas where there are no more jobs but their spouse has a job they should not leave do not believe any of this communist propaganda.
Those who have graduated college but cannot seem to find a job do not believe any of this communist propaganda.
Those whose hours have been drastically cut do not believe any of this communist propaganda.
Those whose pay has ben drastically cut do not believe any of this communist propaganda.
It's low because we are running out of the employed
who are even LOOKING for a job
in order to support themselves or their familes
and are working, paying outrageious taxes to support welfare, and the sick , lame and lazy !!
and support the baby and baby's daddy and mommie .
Think that's bad now, wait until the polygamous Moose-limbs expect you to provide food, housing , and healthcare for him and his 4 wives and kids !!
Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain.
This is beyond “getting old”.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YWyCCJ6B2WE
Continuing jobless claims in the week ended July 26 fell to 2.518 million from 2.542 million in the preceding week. . .
The four-week moving average was 293,500, a decrease of 4,000 from the previous week’s total of 297,500. The monthly average is seen as a more accurate gauge of labor trends because it reduces volatility in the week-to-week data.
These two stats are the most important, the first is over looked, assuming it is going down because people are finding work and not because they are falling off after exhausting benefits, it shows that the job market is expanding. Although they psot the weekly first time claims, it should be ignored and really just look at the 4 week average. Any number of things can affect the weekly claims.
Let me get this straight - We are supposed to be happy that only 289,000 more people lost their jobs last week? This is good news?
Approximately that many people continue to lose their jobs every week?
Just like the gas prices are PLUMMETING down to 3.49/gallon is good news? I have heard news reporters say that.
happy days are here again!
How is our war with Eurasia going?
I lost my primary job 3 years ago and was working part time and short term contract jobs for a third of what I use to make. I didn’t qualify for unemployment after I was laid off from these jobs. I suspect that this is the same for many who are unemployed. They don’t qualify and don’t get counted in the statistics.
RE: Let me get this straight - We are supposed to be happy that only 289,000 more people lost their jobs last week? This is good news?
This is offset ( i.e. NETTED OUT ) with the number of people who FOUND jobs last week. The NET is supposed to be a positive number.
During “normal” prosperous times, jobless claims average something south of 250,000.
Looking at the initial claims numbers from week to week can be difficult because of volatility.
However, if you look at a 4-week moving average of the weekly initial unemployment claims, you get a much clearer picture of where unemployment is headed in the United States.
If the trend of the 4-week moving average is headed higher, you know the economy is deteriorating.
If the trend of the 4-week moving average is flat, you know the economy is stabilizing.
If the trend of the 4-week moving average is headed lower, you know the economy is improving.
Even a 4 week moving average is useless if they are “adjusting” the numbers. Why can’t they simply give the exact number of first time applications?
One thing that is also a concern is that many States are still behind getting applications approved, so those applications that have not been processed are not included in these numbers.
Most of the last three years I've worked part time temporary positions and made up the difference with my military retirement and savings. I wasn't technically "unemployed" but wasn't making enough income to pay my bills. I suspect that I was still counted as employed by the government because I was taking home six bucks an hour at my part time job.
During “normal” prosperous times, jobless claims average something south of 250,000.
You might want to check that stat...
Note the word initial. What about those who have been out of a job for months? When do we hit the bottom with minimal employment and maximum dependency. That’s right, two part time jobs rather than one full time job = a job created and putting Americans back to work. Let me be clear.
Let’s not mention that wages, with very few exceptions, across the board are at level of twenty years ago.
The difference between 300,000 claims average every week then versus now is that now we have far less people working, so 300,000 is a much higher percentage of people filing clams.
“I suspect that this is the same for many who are unemployed. They don’t qualify and don’t get counted in the statistics.”
That is correct.
Also, toss in those that have a claim open, usually 1 year, and get laid off: They go back to work for 6 months, get laid off, and are not counted as having been laid off because they still have a claim open. I suspect that is a higher percentage of people than before as many people are working contract jobs versus employee. The vast majority of corporate workers are “contract to hire” and work less than 12 months before their contract ends and they are not converted to employees.
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