Free Republic

A California man has been charged with setting up fake businesses in three states, then using names taken from temporary visas issued to student visitors on a cultural exchange to obtain more than $355,000 in unemployment benefits for nonexistent workers, federal prosecutors in Iowa said in court documents. Nikolai Monastyrski is charged in federal court in Iowa with wire and mail fraud related to the scheme that prosecutors say he perpetrated there as well as in Illinois and Pennsylvania. A complaint filed Nov. 10 by Dana Johnson, a Chicago-based U.S. Department of Labor special agent, says Monastyrski was able to...

WASHINGTON (AP) — The number of Americans applying for unemployment benefits fell 19,000 last week to a seasonally adjusted 326,000, the fewest since January 2008. The decline shows the job market continues to strengthen. The Labor Department said Thursday that the less volatile four-week average slid 4,500 to 345,750. The July figures are typically volatile as the government adjusts for seasonal layoffs in the auto industry. Still, the trend in weekly unemployment claims in recent months has been positive. Applications, which are a proxy for layoffs, have fallen more than 12 percent this year. That's coincided with average job growth...