new filings for jobless benefits declined to 345,000

[papau]

The Labor Department reported Thursday that for the work week ending Feb. 28 new filings for jobless benefits declined by a seasonally adjusted 7,000 to 345,000, the lowest level in two weeks. The decline was a bit larger than the decrease of 5,000 that some analysts were forecasting.


In another report from the department, the productivity of American workers grew at a modest 2.6 percent annual rate in the final three months of 2003, according to revised figures. The new figure, which matched economists' expectations, was slightly slower than the 2.7 percent pace first estimated a month ago.


http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&ncid=716&e=6&u=/ap/20040304/ap_on_bi_go_ec_fi/economy

[ewagner]

1. aaahhhhh

the aroma of freshly cooked books..............

[wjittermoss]

2. But don't forget the ones whose benefits have run out and who can't

apply again.

[graywarrior]

3. when you work part time or temporary jobs

and you get fired or laid off, you usually don't apply for benefits

[meegbear]

4. When they bring out these figures ....

what they should also list is the number of people who are no longer able to collect because they're claims ran out.

[UpInArms]

5. the key words are

declined by a seasonally adjusted

so these are "adjusted" and not "actual"?

hmmmmm....

[willat]

6. Damn

Well, maybe unemployment will head up again since it's pretty low now.

[Don Claybrook]

7. Pretty low, is it?

Is 10% a low figure, in your estimation?

Are you saying that the American jobs picture looks good right now?

I'm curious.

[Lab Owner]

11. 10%?

Where'd you get that figure??

[Don Claybrook]

14. Well golly, Lab Owner

I sure didn't get it from my untrustworthy Federal Government, who can't seem to tell the truth no matter what.

I believe this is the generally-accepted number when adding those whose unemployment benefits have expired.

What is it that your sources tell you? What's the percentage of unemployed in the US?

Good luck with the meth lab. Fresno or Bakersfield?

[prolesunited]

9. Huh?

You think unemployment is low? And what is this "damn" about? Do you think we want our fellow Americans unemployed.

BTW, a decline in new filings does NOT mean all of those who were previously out of work have found new jobs and studies have indicated many are accepting lower wages and reduced benefits out of desperation.

What I see, is that companies already have cut their payrolls to the bone and they can't cut much more and remain functional.

That is reflected in the productivity gains, which indicate fewer people are doing more work — good if you're a CEO, bad if you're a worker bee.

[kcwayne]

8. This is really annoying

These figures are very unhelpful to try to determine what is happening in the labor pool. A much better measure would be to report the Social Security and Medicare collections that the government takes in every month.

This number would be skewed by the people that max out their contribution, but adjusts for this event would be very small compared to the base collections.

The collections also do not reflect the underground economy, but the jobless benefis don't either, and they hide millions of people who are not working.

[Maeve]

10. Bogus second line in that story

The decline was to exactly what was expected--the difference is that they RAISED last week's number by 2,000.

http://financial.washingtonpost.com/wpost/briefing.asp?mode=MARKCAL&dispnav=business

[kysrsoze]

12. Well on our way to 2.6 million new jobs! Woo hoo! What a great pres!

Wait a second.....we're NOT well on our way to 2.6 million new jobs? But, President Bush said...... Doh! Grrrrrr! :mad:

[saigon68]

16. We are on the "CUSP" of the greatest turnaround in History--The Chimp

Sure looks like it </Sarcasm>

[papau]

13. here is DOL news release on the 345,000

http://www.dol.gov/opa/media/press/eta/ui/current.htm


UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE WEEKLY CLAIMS REPORT

SEASONALLY ADJUSTED DATA

In the week ending Feb. 28, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 345,000, a decrease of 7,000 from the previous week's revised figure of 352,000. The 4-week moving average was 352,250, a decrease of 3,000 from the previous week's revised average of 355,250.

The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 2.4 percent for the week ending Feb. 21, unchanged from the prior week's revised rate of 2.4 percent.

The advance number for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment during the week ending Feb. 21 was 3,091,000, unchanged from the preceding week's revised level of 3,091,000. The 4-week moving average was 3,106,500, a decrease of 3,750 from the preceding week's revised average of 3,110,250.


UNADJUSTED DATA

The advance number of actual initial claims under state programs, unadjusted, totaled 340,399 in the week ending Feb. 28, an increase of 11,715 from the previous week. There were 429,003 initial claims in the comparable week in 2003.

The advance unadjusted insured unemployment rate was 3.0 percent during the week ending Feb. 21, unchanged from the prior week. The advance unadjusted number for persons claiming UI benefits in state programs totaled 3,761,551, an increase of 30,335 from the preceding week. A year earlier, the rate was 3.3 percent and the volume was 4,192,955.

Extended benefits were available in Alaska during the week ending Feb. 14.

53 states reported that 361,723 individuals filed continued claims under the Federal Temporary Extended Unemployment Compensation (TEUC) program during the week ending Feb. 14.

Initial claims for UI benefits by former Federal civilian employees totaled 1,007 in the week ending Feb. 21, a decrease of 250 from the prior week. There were 1,561 initial claims by newly discharged veterans, a decrease of 99 from the preceding week.

There were 19,834 former Federal civilian employees claiming UI benefits for the week ending Feb. 14, a decrease of 2,990 from the previous week. Newly discharged veterans claiming benefits totaled 27,769, a decrease of 869 from the prior week.

The highest insured unemployment rates in the week ending Feb. 14 were in Alaska (6.8 percent), Michigan (4.8), Pennsylvania (4.7), Idaho (4.5), Oregon (4.4), Wisconsin (4.3), New Jersey (4.1), Massachusetts (4.0), Montana (3.9), Rhode Island (3.9), and Washington (3.9).

The largest increases in initial claims for the week ending Feb. 21 were in Massachusetts (+4,649), California (+3,838), Connecticut (+1,530), Rhode Island (+1,441), and New Jersey (+1,170), while the largest decreases were in Michigan (-7,498), New York (-2,802), North Carolina (-2,366), Pennsylvania (-2,257), and Ohio (-1,564).

[TroglodyteScholar]

15. Decline...

I hope the decline makes the other 344,999 people feel better...b/c I'm still pretty sore about being laid off.