The DOL reported Initial weekly unemployment claims for the week ending on November 17th, 2012 were 410,000, a 41,000 drop from the previous week of 451,000. Superstorm Sandy's devastating effects can be seen in state not seasonally adjusted claims for the week of November 10th.
Everybody is all up in arms because the weekly initial claims data was released 15 hours early. Yup, folks, people trade on this report and it's a classic example of herd behavior.
Another week, another bit of bad news for workers and the stagnant economy drone continues. Initial weekly unemployment claims for the week ending on July 14, 2012 were 386,000,. The DOL reports this as an increase of 34,000 from last week's revised figure of 352,000 people filing for unemployment benefits.
Initial weekly unemployment claims for the week ending on March 10th, 2012 were 351,000. The DOL reports this as a decrease of 14,000 from last week. The previous week was revised, from 362,000 to 365,000, an increase of 3,000. This is the lowest number of people filing for unemployment reported in four years, March 2008.
Initial weekly unemployment claims for the week ending on February 18th, 2012 were 351,000. The DOL reports this as unchanged from last week. The previous week was revised, from 348,000 to 351,000, an increase of 3,000.
Initial weekly unemployment claims dropped to 407,000 this week. That's close to the magic number, 400,000 or below, needed to start creating jobs. This is the lowest number since July 2008, over two years. Initial weekly unemployment claims is a volatile number, subject to revisions.
Applications for U.S. unemployment benefits declined more than forecast last week, easing concern that employers will accelerate firings as the world’s largest economy cools.
Initial jobless claims dropped by 27,000 to 451,000 in the week ended Sept. 4, Labor Department figures showed today in Washington.
Sounds good, right? Other than the fact that 451,000 a week is nearly recessionary levels, it's still an improvement.
Well, that's not really true for a number of reasons:
#1) the drop was almost entirely due to seasonal adjustments
#2)
Jobless benefits applications were projected to fall to 470,000 from a previously reported 472,000 for the prior week, according to the median forecast of 46 economists in a Bloomberg News survey. Estimates ranged from 460,000 to 482,000. The Labor Department revised the prior week’s figure to 478,000.
So last week was actually worse than originally reported, which is typical for the BLS.
The August 2010 monthly unemployment figures are out. The official unemployment rate increased to 9.6% and the total jobs lost were -54,000. 114,000 temporary government census jobs were lost and private sector jobs increased by 67,000, which is misleading for 10,000 of the private sector jobs were returning workers, who were on strike. Minus the census jobs, total jobs created was 60,000. This is not enough to even keep up with population growth. Job creation in America is missing in action.
Below is the nonfarm payroll, seasonally adjusted. Notice the downward slope of the number of actual jobs.
The weekly unemployment claims were very positive today.
(Bloomberg) -- The number of Americans filing claims for unemployment benefits fell last week to the lowest level since September 2008 as the economic recovery encourages companies to fire fewer workers.
Initial jobless claims declined to 466,000 in the week ended Nov. 21 from 501,000 a week earlier, Labor Department figures showed today in Washington. The number of people collecting unemployment insurance dropped in the prior week, while those getting extended payments also declined.
Great news all around, right? Wrong.
The non-seasonally adjusted numbers tell a far different story.
A bill offered by Rep. Jim McDermott, D-Wash., and expected to pass easily would provide 13 weeks of extended unemployment benefits for more than 300,000 jobless people who live in states with unemployment rates of at least 8.5 percent and who are scheduled to run out of benefits by the end of September.
The 13-week extension would supplement the 26 weeks of benefits most states offer and the federally funded extensions of up to 53 weeks that Congress approved in legislation last year and in the stimulus bill enacted last February.
...
Some 5 million people, about one-third of those on the unemployment list, have been without a job for six months or more, a record since data started being recorded in 1948, according to the research and advocacy group National Employment Law Project.
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