Posted on 08/28/2014 8:33:10 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
The number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment benefits fell for a second straight week last week, underscoring the strengthening labor market fundamentals.
Initial claims for state unemployment benefits slipped 1,000 to a seasonally adjusted 298,000 for the week ended Aug. 23, the Labor Department said Thursday.
Claims for the prior week were revised to show 1,000 more applications received than previously reported.
Economists polled by Reuters had forecast claims climbing to 300,000 last week. A Labor Department analyst said there were no special factors influencing the state level data.
The four-week average of claims, considered a better measure of labor market trends as it irons out week-to-week volatility, fell 1,250 to 299,750, pointing to sturdy job gains and an economy that is growing above its potential.
Job growth has topped 200,000 for six consecutive months, a stretch last seen in 1997, while the economy expanded at a 4.2 percent annual pace in the second quarter.
(Excerpt) Read more at jobs.aol.com ...
Funny how weekly jobless claims always seem to be falling - second consecutive week, three weeks in a row... even one week in a row. But, the claim is NEVER for increasing for any amount of weeks in a row.
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Oh good! Just in time for the elections! And I guarantee you the numbers are 100% accurate!
Go back week-by-week and count: 1) how many unemployment figures were revised upwards after the initial announcement, and 2) how many were revised downwards after the initial announcement. My guess is that the "true" figures are almost always higher than initially reported. The MSM latches on to the bogus optimistic figures and ballyhoos them to the world, and when the revised, pessimistic (i.e., truthful) figures come out, the MSM ignores them. You don't suppose Obozo has noticed this stupidity on the part of the MSM and is taking advantage of it for political gain, do you?
As more and more unemployed Americans are kicked off the rolls even if they are still actively looking for work...
Explain to me again how losing 298,000 jobs a week while only creating 200,000 a month is a sign of a growing economy?
This is not even getting into the full-time vs. part-time issue.
RE: Explain to me again how losing 298,000 jobs a week while only creating 200,000 a month is a sign of a growing economy?
I believe the 200,000 monthly job increase is the result of SUBTRACTING the number of weekly hires from the number of weekly layoffs during the month.
What we’re seeing in the above numbers is just one side of story — the layoffs. The other side — the hires is the other story.
They net out to about 200,000 at the end of the month.
Don’t forget that there are several classes of “joblessness”. When a person gives up looking completely, they are taken off the roles.
These figures mean nothing anymore.
We have 25% of our workforce sitting idle, and this idiotic set of numbers is viewed as some sort of indicator of economic health?
LOL
freelancers who don’t have a job, like me, are not considered in unemployment figures and we don’t get unemployment because our “employer” doesn’t put into the system, which is as it should be.
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