Thursday, October 28, 2010

Jobless Claims Fall to Second-Lowest Level Since Aug. 2008, German Jobless Rate Lowest Since 1991

WASHINGTON (AP)  -- "Fewer people applied for unemployment benefits last week, the second drop in a row and a hopeful sign the job market could be improving.The Labor Department said Thursday that initial claims for jobless benefits dropped 21,000 to a seasonally adjusted 434,000 in the week that ended Oct. 23 (see chart above).  It was the second-lowest number for claims this year. The only time it was lower was during the July 10 week, and that week was affected by the Independence Day holiday when state unemployment offices were closed."

MP: Except for the holiday-related July 10 low, last week's 434,000 seasonally-adjusted weekly claims for unemployment insurance was the lowest since the week of August 23, 2008, more than two year ago (see chart).

In some positive labor market news from Europe, the German unemployment rate fell in September to an 18-year low of 7.5%, the lowest jobless rate since 1991, and analysts expect the positive trend to continue.   

6 Comments:

At 10/29/2010 5:03 AM, Blogger juandos said...

That AP jobs story is at best a flagrant manipulation of numbers...

BTW the city of Los Ramones has
many openings in the police department...

 
At 10/29/2010 6:19 AM, Blogger sethstorm said...

In spite of the manipulation, what's with the level-off at around 450-475k? It seems to stay in that range aside from occasional spikes upward or downward.

 
At 10/29/2010 6:45 AM, Blogger rjs said...

temporary stimulus from the $2 billion in election spending...

 
At 10/29/2010 7:09 AM, Blogger juandos said...

"In spite of the manipulation, what's with the level-off at around 450-475k?"...

What company that is already shouldering heavy costs imposed on it by local, state, and federal government is going to take a chance on losing even more money in the present day 'even more socialist atmosphere'?

SPUN-employment: Networks Twist Unemployment Reports to Boost Obama, Bash Bush

Economic Reporting: Then and Now

 
At 10/29/2010 10:15 PM, Blogger bdceci01 said...

The plateau is now much higher than before the crisis. It is 450,000 instead of 300-350,000.

 
At 10/30/2010 3:49 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

The decrease is not statistically significant. There has been no significant change in the weekly new unemployment claims since late 2009.

The weekly new unemployment claims numbers are of little value without the corresponding new employment numbers. If few are being hired while 450,000 are fired weekly, then total unemployment is rising. According to the U.S. National Debt Clock web site, actual unemployment (the federal numbers don't include those who stopped looking for work) is now at 16.2% or 27 million persons.

 

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