Unemployment claims drop sharply to 407K

[ProSense]

Source: Associated Press

WASHINGTON – The number of people applying for unemployment benefits fell sharply last week to the lowest level since July 2008, a hopeful sign that improvement in the job market is accelerating.

The Labor Department said Wednesday that weekly unemployment claims dropped by 34,000 to a seasonally adjusted 407,000 in the week ending Nov. 20. Wall Street analysts expected a much smaller drop.

A Labor Department analyst said the claims figures are volatile during the week between the Veteran's Day and Thanksgiving holidays. A key question is whether claims will remain this low in future weeks, or bounce back.

<...>

The four-week average, a less volatile measure, dropped for the third straight week to 436,000, the lowest since August 2008. That's a month before the financial crisis intensified with the collapse of Lehman Brothers, worsening the recession.



Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20101124/ap_on_bi_go_ec_fi/us_jobless_claims_5

[DavidDvorkin]

1. This is good news for Sarah Palin!

Now that John McCain is out of the picture.

[truthisfreedom]

2. Hmm.

[northzax]

3. seasonal

while this is good news for all these people, just like the census jobs, this is a short term fix, based on the idea that retailers are expecting a better than recent holiday season.

[backscatter712]

5. See the post directly below mine - the number's seasonally adjusted. n/t

[delightfulstar]

6. My thoughts exactly...

There's usually some kind of slight uptick at this time of the year, regardless of the eceonomy. Hopefully, the jobs will be there after the holidays, too.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

4. The source for this information.

ETA News Release: Unemployment Insurance Weekly Claims Report - {11/24/2010}

UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE WEEKLY CLAIMS REPORT

SEASONALLY ADJUSTED DATA

In the week ending Nov. 20, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 407,000, a decrease of 34,000 from the previous week's revised figure of 441,000. The 4-week moving average was 436,000, a decrease of 7,500 from the previous week's revised average of 443,500.

The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 3.3 percent for the week ending Nov. 13, a decrease of 0.1 percentage point from the prior week's unrevised rate of 3.4 percent.

The advance number for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment during the week ending Nov. 13 was 4,182,000, a decrease of 142,000 from the preceding week's revised level of 4,324,000. The 4-week moving average was 4,309,000, a decrease of 51,500 from the preceding week's revised average of 4,360,500.

[Larry Ogg]

7. Does this mean the homeless population is shrinking...

are less families requiring food stamps?

[scribble]

8. Not true ...

What a krap headline.

The Department of Labor usually has to revise this monthly figure up or down by fifty and sixty percent. That' means they could be off by 200,000 and more. This measure is notoriously inept. Even useless.

Considering the huge revisions in this figure that are usually necessary, a move by eight percent (410K/34K = 8%) is hardly a "sharp drop."

About 170,000 people enter the workforce every single month. We need to CREATE 170,000 jobs every month, just to stay even. 400,000 new claims means we LOST at least 300,000 jobs last month.

We are in a serious recession. The recession doesn't go away just because the AP says so.


sc

[ProSense]

9. "What a krap headline."

"The recession doesn't go away just because the AP says so. "

AP has nothing to do with the facts.

Weekly Initial Unemployment Claims decrease sharply

[Politics_Guy25]

10. I know it disappoints you "scribble"

that the economy is recovering and your favored candidate, Sarah Palin's, hopes go down the drain if it does. Welcome to DU!!!!!! Free republic is that way<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<

[Change Happens]

11. Great news.....nt