342,000 people filed first time unemployment claims last WEEK

[underpants]

The number of Americans lining up to claim first-time unemployment aid edged lower last week, largely in line with expectations, a government report showed on January 29, 2004. A separate report showed employment costs in the final quarter of 2003 rose by the smallest amount in a year and by slightly less than expected. (Reuters Graphic)

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=568&ncid=749&e=1&u=/nm/20040129/bs_nm/economy_dc

Claims for state unemployment insurance benefits fell 1,000 to 342,000 in the week ended Jan. 24, down from a revised 343,000 the previous week, the Labor Department (news - web sites) said. Analysts were expecting claims of 340,000 after the originally reported 341,000 in the Jan. 17 week.

[lovedems]

1. Are we suppose to somehow feel better that ONLY 342,000 lost their

jobs? That sounds like an extraordinary number to me. That is depressing. As the wife of husband who collects unemployment, I feel for those 342,000 people who have to stand in line with their dignity reduced to pieces of paper and stupid ass forms to fill out every week while they look for a job that isn't there.

[underpants]

2. That number is staggering to me

I know that 300,000 is the bench mark by which economists measure good and bad weeks but that is a whole helluva lot of people. Wow.

[Frodo]

6. It's actually 400,000 and 350,000

Anything under 400,000 is thought to be "good" and any long-term stability under 350,000 is thought to signal sustainable job growth.


But, yes, it's a lot of people. When you talk about a nation of over a quarter Billion people, even small changes in percentages translate to massive numbers of people.

[underpants]

15. Right-- thanks

I knew the 300K number was wrong :spank:

[Kathy in Cambridge]

3. Terrible-that's almost 1 million jobs in 3 weeks.

Not to mention the people whose unemployment has run out-those numbers are staggering.

[lovedems]

5. So what is the total job loss now. I keep hearing 3 million have lost

their jobs since the chimp took office but I hear of more layoffs (Kraft, Kodak, Wilson Leather, SBC) and then only 1,000 jobs created in December.

The number of job losses would have to be higher than 3 million if, as you pointed out, almost a million in the past 3 weeks.

And all the dumb ass wants to do is go to the moon, make his tax cuts permanent and give millions to the NEA (which I am entirely for if we had the money to do it!)

[Frodo]

10. What's missing from your equation...

... is how many people STARTED a new job last week? That doesn't get reported. This isn't a NET loss of 350,000 jobs. Even in the BEST of economies (and everyone here should remember one just a few years ago???) you'll see 270,000 to 300,000 people filing a enw claim every week. It's jsust that 325,000 to 400,000 were getting new jobs in that same week.

Nowadays it seems like we're floating at the "break even" point. Roughly the same number of new hirings as new firings.

[lovedems]

16. Right, I understand your point but what kinds of jobs are people starting

in that week? I am hearing all kinds of stories about people taking a grave yard shift at wal-mart, or taking a cut in pay or taking a job without benefits. For instance, 400,000 people very likely could have found jobs last week, but I would guess 200,000 took a job out of necessity and not because it was a "good job". That should account for something in this so called recovery.

[Kathy in Cambridge]

18. Lots of Service Jobs are being created

while whito collar jobs are being exported.

Numbers tell one story but can be massaged to benefit the administration. Reality is a nother matter. If you ask someone if they know people that have been laid off or unemployed for some time, the answer will be "yes". The exception where I live is in the building trades-many people have refinanced on their homes due to the low mortgage rates and have put that money into home improvements.

[Frodo]

19. Hard to tell, but it's been the assumption for a decade now.

They used to joke about all the jobs Clinton created ("I know... I've got THREE of them").

We've been looking at a 15-20 year decline in the "quality" of some jobs (a new emphasis on part-time over full-time) and a reduction in benefits.



There isn't much of a way to confirm those suppositions though. If overall payroll is still going up it's hard to claim that EVERYONE is losing good-paying jobs and going to work flipping burgers.

[Kathy in Cambridge]

20. Payrolls could reflect higher compensation for C-and VP-Level Employees

I'm in sales and compensation packages have fallen off-I was offered more money in 1994 than most companies offer now.

The same goes for a lot of technical positions-they are making far less money now. Meanwhile, executive compensation is through the roof. That may have something to do with overall payroll rising.

[Gulf Coast J]

12. 1,000 net jobs

According to the establishment survey done by BLS, job creation exceeded job destruction by 1,000 last month. Job creation doesn't get the same press as mass layoffs, but for only 1,000 jobs to have been created during a recovery is terrible.

[GOPisEvil]

4. 200,000 exhausted their benefits too.

I love this recovery. Hoo boy!

[OneTwentyoNine]

7. They'll show up as 200,000 that have now found jobs

And Whore TV will scream from the rafters that Bush's economic plans are sound--200,000 jobs created just last week!!!!

David

[lovedems]

13. That is what my husband keeps saying...how many people have lost

their unemployment benefits before finding a job and have just dropped from the radar? He is convinced the number of actual unemployed people is far greater than what we are being told because there isn't any way to accurately track those who don't have unemployment benefits anymore and still don't have a job.

[GOPisEvil]

14. Actually, according to another thread, it's 2 MILLION....

January-June, 2 million people are expected to exhaust their benefits.

[Kathy in Cambridge]

17. I Know People That Haven't Worker in Two Years

and a friend from an old job moved to Atlanta for a new IT position (there are very few here in Boston these days) and was laid off six months later.

I love this recovery-what job security!

[Bush_Eats_Beef]

8. Must be the "Bush tax cuts stimulatin' the economy"...how exciting

This will be another one of those "proof that the President's tax cuts are working, this is good news but we won't be happy until every American who wants a job has one" BS spins on Cable news. I smell it coming.

Bush is in New Hampshire today, supposedly to "discuss how to stimulate the economy, one of his TOP PRIORITIES" (MSNBC sound bite from a few minutes ago)...

So if he's going to cut the deficit in half in five years, just think how good the "new jobless claims" will look next month. Is this man unstoppable or what?

:puke: :puke: :puke: :puke:

[On the Road]

9. This is the Same Economy

that last month generated 1 THOUSAND new jobs for an entire month?

Jobs lost:jobs gained = 1000:1

Quite a ratio.

[OneTwentyoNine]

11. Its the same Bush that promised 1 million new jobs by 2004....eom