Jobless Claims in U.S. Unexpectedly Decline to Lowest Level in Two Months

[jefferson_dem]

Source: Bloomberg

By Bob Willis - Sep 16, 2010 8:30 AM ET

Applications for U.S. unemployment benefits unexpectedly fell last week to the lowest level in two months, a sign the labor market is improving.

Initial jobless claims dropped by 3,000 to 450,000 in the week ended Sept. 11, Labor Department figures showed today in Washington. The median forecast was for a rise to 459,000, according to a Bloomberg News survey. The total number of people receiving unemployment insurance fell, and those getting extended payments plunged.

While the pace of staffing reductions has slowed, hiring is needed to foster bigger gains in consumer spending, which accounts for 70 percent of the economy. Economists surveyed by Bloomberg News this month forecast unemployment will hold above 9 percent through next year, a sign it will take years to recover the more than 8 million jobs lost in the recession.

“The labor market is slowly getting back on track,” Ryan Sweet, a senior economist at Moody’s Economy.com in West Chester, Pennsylvania, said before the report. “Businesses are still cautious about hiring, but the strong recovery in profits is giving firms the cash flow they need to invest.”


Read more: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-09-16/jobless-claims-in-u-s-unexpectedly-decline-to-lowest-level-in-two-months.html

[bluestateguy]

1. This has been a bad couple of weeks for the double dippers and the Professional Doom and Gloom crowd

But I'm sure they will find new reasons to try and make everyone miserable.

[Name removed]

3. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[jefferson_dem]

7. Great?

Nah. But nobody said that.

Positive progress? Yah. Data show that.

[Name removed]

16. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[jefferson_dem]

30. Stating facts =

pollyanna shtick in your mind. :crazy:

Get a grip. Reality calls.

[HughMoran]

20. Gotta love the personal insult though

[Name removed]

24. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Lost4words]

25. dupe

[Name removed]

15. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Lost4words]

17. Good Advice Indeed, thanks

:hi:

[DCBob]

6. Yeah, for sure. I suspect they will just dismiss this as a temporary blip..

on our way to the much anticipated depression.

[Lost4words]

2. I think its safe to predict that there will be no big increases till after Nov 2

[Nicholas D Wolfwood]

4. So are you suggesting that businesses aren't firing people to help Democrats?

Or are you suggesting that the numbers are fraudulent? I'd love to know which one it is.

[AlinPA]

5. So you think the administration is cooking the books?

[Lost4words]

13. no that would never happen

[pattmarty]

23. ALL admins in your words "cook the books". It's been happening since Washington.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

8. The source

Unemployment Insurance Weekly Claims Report {09/16/2010}

UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE WEEKLY CLAIMS REPORT

SEASONALLY ADJUSTED DATA

In the week ending Sept. 11, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 450,000, a decrease of 3,000 from the previous week's revised figure of 453,000. The 4-week moving average was 464,750, a decrease of 13,500 from the previous week's revised average of 478,250.

The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 3.5 percent for the week ending Sept. 4, a decrease of 0.1 percentage point from the prior week's revised rate of 3.6 percent.

The advance number for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment during the week ending Sept. 4 was 4,485,000, a decrease of 84,000 from the preceding week's revised level of 4,569,000. The 4-week moving average was 4,503,000, a decrease of 7,500 from the preceding week's revised average of 4,510,500.

[Name removed]

18. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Turbineguy]

9. Time for Boner

to get out his hanky again.....

[impik]

10. look at all the so called "progressives" unrc' good news. Losers.

[Kingofalldems]

11. K and R. Republicans will not like this one.

[the other one]

12. The fat has already been cut

So it makes sense that firing has slowed.

450,000 is a terrible number.

We are cutting into the muscle now.

Tell me when the number is below 375k. Or at least show me some consistent meaningful job creation.

[quaker bill]

14. and retail sales are up

factory orders up....

It was a "soft patch".

K&R for the d&g crowd.

[PSPS]

19. 450,000 new jobless claims + 150,000 new jobs/month needed for new population = "good news?"

You know you're in trouble when they quote someone who calls themselves a "senior economist at Moody’s Economy.com" as saying, "the strong recovery in profits is giving firms the cash flow they need to invest."

[Name removed]

26. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[JJ]

35. Especially when the strong recovery in profits...

is mostly coming from cutting labor costs by cutting jobs.

[tilsammans]

21. K&R. I'm unemployed, but . . .

. . . lately I've seen the best uptick yet in available jobs. We still have a long way to go, but I'm encouraged at what I see.

[crim son]

22. I'm always mystified by the use of the term "unexpected"

when these reports come out. There was an "unexpected" decrease in job claims when people were hired on at the Census, and an "unexpected" jump in claims when the Census ended. Now with the holidays coming up and seasonal employees being taken on as they are every year, the situation is again being characterized as unexpected. What is unexpected about any of this - at least any more unexpected than the revelation that there were in fact no WMDs in Iraq?

[GOTV]

27. WoooHooo! More of this kind of news please!

Anyone have an updated bikini graph?

[Botany]

28. Although very slow things started to turn around when the stimulus kicked in

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_mupm2BmIjtc/S-RIQyRgxEI/AAAAAAAAMGw/CHGWjngdhuA/s1600/chart+job+gains+April.jpg

[JJ]

34. Please source that chart

I can't make it out.

[Botany]

37. These links should help

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2010_04/023184.php

http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Politics/monitor_breakfast/2010/0825/Economist-Zandi-John-Boehner-just-wrong-about-Obama-stimulus

[NickB79]

44. And now that the stimulus is winding down, do you expect the recovery to continue? nt

[thereismore]

29. Lowest in 2 months? Wow. Usually, one number out of two will be the lowest.

Not that I am complaining, just saying. If this was lowest in 2 years, that would be something else.

[Godhumor]

36. It's a weekly report not monthly

Not that it adds a whole heck of a lot of data points, but still.

[thereismore]

42. Good point. My bad. nt

[INdemo]

31. I am not sure I believe this..Some have exhausted the most recent extended

benefits and have joined the ranks of the 99er's..I am not buying into this story.. Unemployment dropped by a whole 3000..Wow

[INdemo]

32. I am not sure I believe this..Some have exhausted the most recent extended

benefits and have joined the ranks of the 99er's..I am not buying into this story.. Unemployment dropped by a whole 3000..Wow

[keepCAblue]

39. Bingo. n/t

[dmallind]

41. New claims has NO connection to benefit eligibility

and is only a minor input to UE rate (hundreds of thousands of people ALWYAS lose and GET jobs every week - this is only one side of that). So unemployment may have dropped by far more than 3000 or even gone up, and neither the UE rate or initial claims are tied to benefits at all.

[JJ]

33. 450,000 NEW jobless claims in one WEEK!!!

But...but...but, it's down by three thousand from the week before.

At that rate we'll START recovering the lost jobs in two or three years, just in time for President Romney to give the big tax cuts back to the top 2% and start the death spiral again.

Please get real, you can in no way call this a recovery, at least not for those of us in the bottom 90%.

[Nikki Stone1]

38. Thank you. This is exactly the problem. The drop is minute--close to half a percent at most

And temporary.

[HughMoran]

46. Prove that it's temporary

Explain 1) why it's temporary and 2) why you are hoping that it's temporary

[HughMoran]

45. Equilibrium point is around 434000/week

So, it helps if you know what you're talking about at times.

[HughMoran]

47. 400,000 is the expected number in a booming economy.

[keepCAblue]

40. And yet foreclosures are up a whopping 25% & US poverty level jumps to 14.3%

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x4542526

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x4542450

[gmpierce]

43. Just curious ...

The story in Bloomberg said: Jobless Claims in U.S. Unexpectedly Fell Last Week to 450,000.

Nowhere in the Bloomberg article did I see the phrase: "...a sign the labor market is improving." actually the word "improving" was nowhere in the article.

Did the Blomberg article change or are we making our own news now.