Initial jobless claims drop more than expected

[onehandle]

Source: AP

WASHINGTON – New claims for unemployment benefits fell more than expected last week as layoffs ease and hiring slowly recovers.

The Labor Department said Thursday that first-time claims for jobless benefits dropped by 14,000 to a seasonally adjusted 442,000. That's below analysts' estimates of 450,000, according to Thomson Reuters.

But most of the drop resulted from a change in the calculations the department makes to seasonally adjust the data, a Labor Department analyst said. The department updates its methods every year. Excluding the effect of those adjustments, claims would have fallen by only 4,000.

The four-week average of claims, which smooths volatility, dropped by 11,000 to 453,750, the lowest since September 2008, when the financial crisis intensified.

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100325/ap_on_bi_go_ec_fi/us_economy

[Atman]

1. DOH! Damn you, Obama, and your communism!

:rofl:

.

[Lost4words]

2. I have mixed feelings on these numbers,

:smoke: :think: :eyes: :mad: :puke: :crazy: :silly: :wtf: :argh: :freak: :spank: :wow: :beer: :grr: :toast::scared: :donut: :banghead: :woohoo: :dilemma: :blush: :hide:

:yoiks: this small change might be encouraging for someone doing alright but to the long term jobless........

[rfranklin]

3. This is not job creation...

It signals a slowing of the firings and layoffs. We need a massive redirection of the American economy and that ain't gonna happen as long as we keep outsourcing jobs and importing cheap semi-slave workers from India.

[KG]

4. only 442k lost their jobs last week.

whoopdee-dam-doo.

[Hosnon]

5. Good news.

And we seem to go through this every time a report is issued so I'll preempt the pessimists: a decrease in job losses, while not as good as an increase in jobs, is better than an increase in job losses. We are moving in the right direction.

[DCBob]

6. you left off an important part to the story...

Many economists say claims need to fall below roughly 425,000 to signal that the economy will consistently create jobs, though some say it could happen with claims at higher levels. Analysts forecast the nation will gain more than 150,000 jobs in March, partly due to temporary hiring for the Census. The March figures will be reported April 2. "We believe that the trend in initial claims is signaling that ... job creation is imminent," economists at Bank of America Merrill Lynch wrote before the Labor Department's report.

[rfranklin]

7. And where will those jobs come from?

Another credit bubble? A dot.com bubble? Even cheaper loans from the Fed?

They have shot their wad. That's why there is significant rumblings of sovereign debt default. Like Greece, we may suddenly find that no one is willing to finance our government spending. The Fed can keep printing money and driving down the value of the dollar (inflation)but that's not going to be very popular with all the baby boomers who are retiring. We could end up carrying our grocery money to the supermarket in a wheelbarrow.

[DCBob]

8. Perhaps but I am not gloomy...

No need for another bubble.. just slow gradual growth is good enough to keep the lights on and food on the table. I think that's doable.

[Kingofalldems]

9. Kick and rec for the TSed freeper boy--Yeah!

[seabeckind]

10. Until we make a basic change

in the way we handle jobs and manufacturing, we will never see a true recovery. Recently I came across an old article in the Seattle paper showing where components for that Boeing 787 come from:

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/businesstechnology/2002486348_787global11.html

30 or 40 years ago all of those components would have been manufactured here, in that factory down the road from YOU. Today Boeing is vying for an Air Force tanker contract. Where will those components come from?

And what has happened to this industry is the same thing that has happened to all our industries. Our high speed rail, which has the potential to revamp all our travel, will probably use components that come from everywhere but here even though 75 years ago our rail stock ran on railroads all over the world.

Until we change the way we deal with our corporations and bust their trusts, we will never have a true job recovery.

That's the jobs bill we need.

[No Elephants]

11. They changed the way they calculate. That accounts for most of the "improvement."

Besides, the rate of job loss should be slowing bc so many are already unemployed (and have been for a year or two, or more.

[jillan]

12. I think as the weather warms up there will be more job creation.

Just in construction jobs alone. We are going into Tear Up The Streets Season.

[Better Today]

13. So y'all think its time to cheer for "but most of the drop resulted from a change in calculations"?

Really? That's the best you got on this? More bogus numbers, but even if they were calculated based on the normal calculations, 14000 less newly unemployed is entirely underwhelming.

[HughMoran]

14. Captain Gloom to the rescue!

[Better Today]

17. Truth and critical analysis hurts, huh? The gloom exists for

many hundreds of thousands of people. Your choice to pretend otherwise takes your voice away from those demanding better jobs stimulus, which as an unemployed person for over a year, infuriates me.

[HughMoran]

18. truth and critical analysis?

:rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: arrogance?

[No Elephants]

15. Funny how no one seems to get it.

[hayu_lol]

16. Still gobs of smoke and mirrors from 'foggy bottom.'

I don't care how you slice it, dice it, or hammer it to death...this is still roughly half a million jobs being lost every GD month.

All we seem to be getting from the so-called experts is noise.

Cancel all foreign work visas and send the good folks home. No more contracts with foreign sources for anything. Factories that have offshored themselves can choose: return to the states or lose the US market for your goods.

We NEED JOBS.

[Duer 157099]

19. Even an anorexic stops losing weight at some point

It's not like it can infinitely continue at the same pace. At some point you hit a threshold.