Unemployment Insurance Weekly Claims Report (07/28/2011)

[mahatmakanejeeves]

Source: Employment and Training Administration, Department of Labor

UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE WEEKLY CLAIMS REPORT

SEASONALLY ADJUSTED DATA

In the week ending July 23, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 398,000, a decrease of 24,000 from the previous week's revised figure of 422,000. The 4-week moving average was 413,750, a decrease of 8,500 from the previous week's revised average of 422,250.

The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 2.9 percent for the week ending July 16, a 0.1 percentage point decrease from the prior week's revised rate of 3.0 percent.

The advance number for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment during the week ending July 16 was 3,703,000, a decrease of 17,000 from the preceding week's revised level of 3,720,000. The 4-week moving average was 3,721,000, a decrease of 5,250 from the preceding week's revised average of 3,726,250.

Read more: http://www.dol.gov/opa/media/press/eta/ui/eta20111119.htm

[FBaggins]

1. A little better than expected, which is nice...

...but still way too high.

[Lucky Luciano]

2. Can't these "experts" ever get it right?!

I could have told them that the expected number of 415K was not going to be exactly right!










(Just a little snark aimed at the armchair economists who proclaim themselves experts when there is an unexpectedly high unemployment claims number).

[dtotire]

3. Applications for unemployment aid drop below 400K

Source: Associated Press

Applications for unemployment aid drop below 400K

By CHRISTOPHER S. RUGABER
AP Economics Writer



WASHINGTON (AP) -- The number of people seeking unemployment benefits dropped last week to the lowest level since early April, a sign the job market may be healing after a recent slump.

The Labor Department said Thursday that weekly applications fell 24,000 to a seasonally adjusted 398,000. That's the first time applications have fallen below 400,000 in 16 weeks.

The four-week average, a less volatile measure, dropped to 413,750, the lowest since the week of April 23.

Applications had fallen in February to 375,000, a level that signals healthy job growth. But they then surged to an eight-month high of 478,000 in April and have declined only slowly since then.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_UNEMPLOYMENT_BENEFITS?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2011-07-28-08-45-56



Read more: http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_UNEMPLOYMENT_BENEFITS?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2011-07-28-08-45-56

---

Hopeful

[dmallind]

4. Last week IIRDC we got 13 threads by noon on the increase. Let's see how many we get on a drop.

My prediction is as ever that doom sells on DU.

[Demit]

7. Something tells me you didn't read the full article. The 'doom' is spelled out there.

[dmallind]

10. but bigger-numbered doom is more appealing here. nt

[Roy Rolling]

5. of course it will drop

When there are fewer and fewer jobs, there are fewer people to fire and lay off from those jobs. And so there are fewer unemployment claims and a rise in "discouraged workers"---workers who can no longer apply nor seek unemployment but still do not have a job.

[neoralme]

6. Yep.

[Lucky Luciano]

8. Very imaginative. nt

[dmallind]

9. new applications and discouraged workers are irrelevant to ach other

unless you believe that people are too discouraged to spend a few minutes online to get a few hundred dollars a week.

[pinqy]

11. Discouraged workers is a technical term and different from what you're saying

those not in the labor force who want and are available for a job and who have looked for work sometime in the past 12 months (or since the end of their last job if they held one within the past 12 months), but are not currently looking, because they believe there are no jobs available or there are none for which they would qualify. (Specifically, the main reason identified by discouraged workers for not recently looking for work is one of the following: believes no work available in line of work or area; could not find any work; lacks necessary schooling,training, skills, or experience; employers think too young or too old; or other types of discrimination.)

source: Current Population Survey Technical Paper 66, page 5-5

Discouragement as a concept has nothing to do with UI claims.

[bhikkhu]

12. The labor force is still growing, as is the job market

That's labor force total numbers, current. Of course things could be better, but it is still trending upward. It does make one wonder, however, what we might have had if congress had allowed a more comprehensive stimulus, or any of the jobs programs that the president and democrats pushed for in '10.

[fasttense]

13. Happy Days are here again, now if only I could get something besides a McJob. n/t