U.S. jobless claims drop sharply to near 15-year low!

Yahoo News via Reuters ^ | 01/29/2015 | Lucia Mutikani

[SeekAndFind]

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment benefits tumbled last week to its lowest level in nearly 15 years, adding to bullish signals on the labor market.

Initial claims for state unemployment benefits dropped 43,000 to a seasonally adjusted 265,000 for the week ended Jan. 24, the lowest since April 2000, the Labor Department said on Thursday. It was the biggest weekly decline since November 2012.

The drop, which far exceeded economists' expectations for a fall to only 300,000, probably exaggerates the strength of the jobs market as the data included the Martin Luther King holiday, which means fewer claims were likely processed.

It unwound the prior weeks' increases, which had pushed claims above the key 300,000 threshold. Economists had largely dismissed that rise as "noise," noting difficulties adjusting the data for seasonal fluctuations at the start of the year.

[txrefugee]

The Labor Dept’s joke of the week. How many Middle Class families have members out of work or only able to work part time? Millions. That’s why retail sales were in the dumps during the past holiday season. It will not improve as the market loses faith in the Republicans doing anything to reign in Obama’s devastating economic policies, particularly Obamacare.

[NorthMountain]

Did the labor force shrink again?

[NativeSon]

How do they even claim this?, like; “our numbers indicate that everyone that is working has a job”.

[bolobaby]

uh? 100 million less people employed than in 2009?

Methinks you should check your numbers before you repeat that in public.

[ilgipper]

This means companies are not shedding jobs. I believe that. I think companies have gotten into a sweet spot where there are not jobs that can be cut. They weathered the downturn, shed as much as possible, and may have increased slightly with modest growth. Now, everyone is sailing along at a tepid pace, while those not in the labor market are pretty much screwed and on the sidelines.

[rktman]

Jobless “CLAIMS” dropped. Well geez, I guess that means we’re near 100% employment then huh? F’n IPOS.

[stephenjohnbanker]

The stock market isn’t buying the “cook the books” program either, and it it always looks for a reason to go up : )

[kabar]

In order to apply for unemployment you have had to have had a job. We are running out of beneficiaries who are eligible for unemployment benefits. The long term unemployed is at an all-time high. Once you run out of benefits, you can't apply for unemployment until you get a job and lose it. The labor participation rate is at a 38 year low.

The national economy, now in its sixth year of recovery, is gaining momentum and the unemployment rate has fallen sharply over the last year to 6.1%. But the number and share of people out of work for more than six months, the so-called long-term unemployed, remain at historically high levels.

Of the 3 million long-term jobless today, about one-third have been unemployed for more than two years, Labor Department data show. A small minority — roughly 100,000 Americans like Perry — have been actively looking for at least five years.

[The Sons of Liberty]

U.S. jobless claims drop sharply to near 15-year low!

Has to be true - the government said so!
I'm digging out my deeds to some prime swampland down in Mississipp. I'm sure I can make a fortune. /sarc

On another note; I saw a couple of days back that Social Security disability claims were through the roof; any connection?

[DoodleDawg]

That was before IBM started their 100,000+ headcount reduction.

[fwdude]

They’ve already been caught blatantly lying before the 2012 elections. They have lost all credibility with me.

[Monty22002]

I understand that. I’m just saying that running out of benefits doesn’t itself affect the stats in this case. Less people working will of course make the %’s of this appear better.

[SeekAndFind]

RE: That was before IBM started their 100,000+ headcount reduction.

IBM DENIES that the headcount will be 100,000+ but admits it will be in the thousands.

SEE HERE:

http://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/2015/01/26/ibm-denies-massive-layoffs/22381395/

[Enlightened1]

Anyone that uses the trendy degenerate phrase “Methinks” should not make assumptions.

Right now, there are more than 8.6 million Americans that are considered to be “officially unemployed”, and there are more than 92.9 million Americans that are not employed and that are considered to be “not in the labor force”.

When you add those two numbers together, the total is more than 101.5 million. So I underestimated by a little less than 10 million.

http://www.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.t01.htm

[<1/1,000,000th%]

Government workers were off for the holiday and processed fewer claims. Sure. That’s an improvement.

[jsanders2001]

it’s called “giving up” because they’ve spent years looking and only found seasonal work, if that..

[FirstFlaBn]

I guess they forgot about their secret sauce called “seasonal adjustment.”

Oh yeah, they only use that when it makes the numbers look better.

Anybody have the skills to look at MLK week over the last few years? Is there normally a drop and a rebound the following week? If so, how big?

[ErnBatavia]

"adding to bullish signals on the labor market."

I think the writer garbled the spelling 'bullsh*t', and it came out 'bullish'....

[DoodleDawg]

IBM DENIES that the headcount will be 100,000+ but admits it will be in the thousands.

There are enough stories out there that indicate otherwise. Please see this link and the overall thread.

[bolobaby]

Methinks you are still wrong. Look at you original comment:

“All anyone has to do is count that actual number of people employed.

I’ll save you the time. It’s almost 100 million less than 2009.”

You specifically say that there are “100 million LESS than 2009” (emphasis added).

Incorrect. There are *currently* 100 million. There were actually people not in the labor force in 2009, too.

So I made no assumption. Your original phrasing was wrong and should not be repeated. There are not currently 100 million LESS than 2009. That’s patently ludicrous.

Mealsothinks “methinks” isn’t so bad. ;-)