Posted on 10/15/2009 6:13:56 AM PDT by Blood of Tyrants
WASHINGTON -- The number of newly laid-off workers filing claims for unemployment insurance has fallen to the lowest level since early January, a sign the labor market is slowly improving.
The Labor Department said Thursday that first-time claims for jobless benefits dropped to a seasonally-adjusted 514,000 from an upwardly revised 524,000 the previous week. The fifth decline in six weeks was below Wall Street economists' forecasts of 525,000, according to Thomson Reuters.
The four-week average, which smooths fluctuations, fell for the sixth straight time to 531,500.
Economists closely watch initial claims, which are considered a measure of layoffs and the willingness of companies to add jobs.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
Yep. Programmers are a dime a dozen. Engineers are better by design......
I still don’t buy that 53 weeks number. Thats a whole year of extended benefits, on top of the standard 6 to 9 months maximum. While I would say without a doubt thats going to be needed right now, I don’t buy that an entire year of extended unemployment benefits was just added out of nowhere by congress. I remember back when Porkulus was being pushed through, there was a small portion of it, that Obama claimed was to extend unemployment for only 12 weeks beyond the standard limit. 53 weeks? Not buying that number. I know people who have been unemployed for over a year now, have run out of benefits, and either taping into retirement emergency funds to live day to day, or basically packed up what belongings they couldn’t sell or pawn, and moved back with their parents. I’m sure there are plenty way worse off than even that scenerio.
Such as myself. Job went to India, and I'm nearly 58.
I've had two interviews in 5 months, when in "normal" times I would have had a job in less than one month. Job hunting has become a form of keyword bingo, where you have to match a particular list of skillset TLA's even to be picked out of the pile.
Words mean things ... How does bulls*it sound?
Middle managers just love to rape the IT department in exchange for career movement. They always smell a bigger year end bonus or raise by selling the execs on downsizing IT. Even though about 6 months to a year later, there is major drop in productivity because of all the cuts. By then, they’ve moved on up the corporate food chain and blame it on something else.
right, but it’s good news. You see, it’s only SLIGHTLY over half a million..
get with the program, wouldja??
(do I really need a /s tag??)
So 2,000,000+ people losing jobs over the past 4 weeks is a sign of improvement? Imagine the good times to come when only 1,500,000 people are losing jobs every month. Thank you President Obama. NGFY(Now Go F... Yourself)
I applied yesterday for unemployment......my number will be in next weeks release.
And this is not the first time unemployment benefits have been extended, as some here might have you believe. Also happened in the early 90’s.
And it is only about 200,000 off the high set in January.....10 months ago!!!!!!!!!!!
I do not see how anyone could say this is remotely good with a straight face.
got that right..IT is always the first to be cut, and the last to be filled.
Though they get laid off as well. Few workers now want to work for one company for 20 years regardless.
I don’t. How boring would that be?
Getting worse at a slower rate is not the same as getting better...
Agree.
see post # 74
I thought I wanted to go into computers, but all this makes me change my mind.
I want at least some job stability, not losing my job to some dude from India.
see post # 74
People who have been collecting unemployment are dropped off as their benefits have run out but if congress approves another extension, we will see an UNEXPECTED rise in claims.
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