Posted on 01/11/2018 7:59:21 AM PST by SeekAndFind
The total number of workers receiving unemployment benefits fell to the lowest level in 44 years to end 2017, the Department of Labor reported Thursday.
Altogether, 1.87 million people received unemployment insurance benefits in the last week of the year, the lowest such seasonally-adjusted mark since December of 1973. Benefits are available for up to 26 weeks in most states.
The low number of people utilizing unemployment insurance is a good sign for the economy. Fewer people seeking unemployment benefits suggests that fewer people are getting laid off. Total claims have scraped the lowest levels in decades several times in recent months.
As for new claims for unemployment benefits, they rose 11,000 to 261,000 in the first week of 2018, according to the same report.
Forecasters had expected jobless claims to drop only slightly from the previous week's level of 250,000, the highest such mark since November. Instead, they rose to the highest level since September, when the numbers were inflated by hurricane damage to southern states. The Department of Labor said that hurricane-related damage is still affecting the collection of insurance claims in Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands.
Nevertheless, new claims are still below the threshold that would suggest that unemployment could start rising, which economists peg at around 300,000.
In fact, even with unemployment at the lowest rate since the turn of the century, 4.1 percent, job creation has remained strong in recent months, suggesting that joblessness could decline even further in the months ahead. Over the past three months, monthly job gains have averaged 204,000.
New jobless claims fell throughout the end of President Obama's tenure, after spiking during the financial crisis, eventually reaching levels not seen in the mid-2000s. They have continued to grind lower during President Trump's first year in office.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonexaminer.com ...
Looks like Obama truly was The Food Stamp President
What has to happen now is for the “discouraged workers” who “left” the labor force to begin coming back to work. Things such as work requirements for able bodied Medicaid recipients will help with this. MAGA
So how much of a dollar savings are we talking about and will that be applied to the national debt? or will Congress spend it on something else??
Trump must have found that magic wand 0bama was blathering about.
Good news for America.
Bad news for the dim bulbs.
Why aren’t the Republicans out there every day reminding everybody that NO Dim voted for the tax cuts?
Indeed, there are approx. 10 million MEN, between the ages of 25-54, who have simply disappeared from the labor force. In the 1950's, approx. 97+% of this total age group were in the labor force. Now that number is the about 89 %. How do they live? A big increase in disability and long-term social security payments describes some of it, but otherwise, where are they?
Number of ‘’workers’’? First of all ‘’workers’’ is a Marxist term and if you’re a ‘’worker’’meaning you employed and working at something why would you be collecting unemployment?
Living in their parents basement.
And working under the table.
We all know that once benefits end they conveniently stop counting a person as unemployed whether they found work or were driven to live on the street.
There are thousands upon thousands who were and are driven to the street or early retirement because companies will not hire older qualified people because A. they are to expensive to the company and B. The companies fear an older experience person won't stay, that they are just marking time until something better comes along when the truth is they are the most stable employee that wants only to be employed and hopefully have some benefits until regular retirement. It's the young people that are unstable and expensive due to their work ethic and attitude.
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