Initial jobless claims drop back below 300,000

Los Angeles Times ^ | February 19, 2015 | JIM PUZZANGHERA

[Steven Scharf]

Los Angeles Times

Initial jobless claims drop back below 300,000 By JIM PUZZANGHERA February 19, 2015

Initial jobless claims declined more than expected last week, falling back below the 300,000 level that indicates a healthy labor market.

About 283,000 people filed for first-time unemployment benefits, down from 304,000 the previous week, the Labor Department said Thursday.

The drop was more than forecast by economists, who expected 290,000 initial claims.

The weekly figure can be volatile but it is a key indicator of the state of the labor market.

Claims had been running below 300,000 for most of the fourth quarter of last year before bumping up a bit to start 2015.

But the four-week average, which smooths out some of the volatility, indicates that initial claims are still consistent with the solid job growth the economy has posted in recent months.

The four-week average fell 6,500 last week, to 283,250.

. . .

[Steven Scharf]

The title of this article in my local paper was, "Initial jobless claims fall back below healthy level" which implied to me that someone thought that 300K is a threshold we should not dip below. The first sentence of the article actually makes it unclear which direction the article is implying is good or bad for the economy.

Personally, I would say going as low as possible can only be good. But the first time jobless claims only tell one aspect of the information on the economy. I think it makes great headlines, but the number of total people unemployed and related to this the number receiving unemployment.

[skeeter]

But the four-week average, which smooths out some of the volatility, indicates that initial claims are still consistent with the solid job growth the economy has posted in recent months.

Then the total number of unemployed/underemployed must be dropping, right?

Right?

[wetgundog]

Liars, all... that’s all I got to say.

[JPG]

[Repeal The 17th]

...Initial jobless claims below 300,000...”
-
Happy days are here again,
The skies above are clear again,
So lets sing a song of cheer again,
Happy days are here again.

[lacrew]

Nothing but great news for 7 years now...economy must be roaring.

[stephenjohnbanker]

We need “ cookthebooks.com “

[The Sons of Liberty]

Initial jobless claims drop back below 300,000

For this to be true, then how many more have given up looking and dropped out of the workforce?

Last count the total was about 93 Million (almost one-third of the US population and a huge percentage of the workforce) so now it must be close to 100 Million?

[Bryan24]

300,000 Initial Jobless claims. If by “initial” you mean the first week you file, and you are no longer counted, then the numbers break out as follows:

300,000 X 52 = 15,600,000 people becoming unemployed every year.

THAT is a healthy economy?

[ClearCase_guy]

Is there any logic to any of these numbers? They just say whatever without actually worrying about the economy, how government policy may or may not be affecting businesses, or how people are getting by out in the real world.

I swear they just spin a big wheel and they reveal some number that serves as economic data for the next week or month or whatever.

[AngelesCrestHighway]

It's all roses and candy then...?

[edh]

There’s logic.

If Bush is in office, a little less than 300K is terrible and is a sign of pending doom.

If O-ha-ha is in office, a little less than 300K means prosperity for everyone!*

*Prosperity for everyone that doesn’t work. That means that more people are out earning your food stamps and other ‘free’ stuff for you!

All in all, this is a moving average of new jobless claims. It goes up and down. The only time it’s a good/bad indicator is when there are large increases/decreases across a longer period of time. It’s been pretty consistent for a while now.

Don’t confuse this with the monthly unemployment numbers which are a joke anymore with the loss of workers in the workforce. Some enlightened, brilliant, and know-it-all economists (usually of the liberal variety) claim that this loss of workers in the workforce is due to baby boomers retiring. Yes. That’s the ticket ... retirees ...

[GoldenPup]

Initial jobless claims drop back below 300,000

Bullsh!t, lies, and books-cooking...as usual.

[VanShuyten]

If you lose your part-time job, can you file for unemployment?

[uncitizen]

Exactly

[VanShuyten]

From the Wikipedia article on dorodango:

“In the episode “End with a Bang” (Episode 113) of the Discovery series “MythBusters” that first aired on November 12, 2008, hosts Adam Savage and Jamie Hyneman investigated the truth behind everyday sayings. They used the dorodango technique to create dung spheres in order to bust the myth that one “can’t polish a turd”. Using a glossmeter, they measured gloss levels substantially higher than the value of 70 gloss units which is considered “high gloss”. Savage’s 106 gloss unit dorodango used an ostrich’s feces, while Hyneman’s 183 gloss unit specimen used a lion’s feces. They therefore deemed the myth “busted”.”

[Larry Lucido]

If your name is George Costanza and if you know Keith Hernandez you can.

[Cringing Negativism Network]

There are now 93.5 million Americans (out) of the labor force.

That is I believe, an all-time new record. And steadily climbing.

Both parties are sending American jobs elsewhere.

Bring back jobs, to America.

[1010RD]

Isn’t the Democratic Party proof positive as well?