Unemployment claims fall to lowest level since April

[NNN0LHI]

http://money.cnn.com/2011/09/29/news/economy/unemployment_benefits/?cnn=yes

By Annalyn Censky @CNNMoney September 29, 2011: 9:14 AM ET

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- The number of Americans filing for their first week of unemployment benefits fell last week to the lowest level in nearly six months, possibly signaling slight improvement in the job market.

There were 391,000 initial unemployment claims filed in the week ended Sept. 24, the Labor Department said Thursday, down 37,000 from the prior week's revised 428,000.

The drop was much better than expected, as economists forecast initial claims to fall to 419,000, according to Briefing.com.

New claims for unemployment benefits have stuck around or above 400,000 since early April, a level economists often say is too high to signal the unemployment rate will come down anytime soon.

[MNBrewer]

1. I'm possibly slightly happy to see this possible slight improvement in the job market.

:shrug:

[Possumpoint]

2. Shall We

Wait for the revised number?

[Yo_Mama]

3. It's very likely due to Seasonal Adjustment n/t

We need to wait for a few weeks before partying.

[1776Forever]

4. I believe there are a lot of people who are just out of benefits. There are no more. n/t

[Angry Dragon]

5. Too bad they don't count the ones that have out of unemployment

and then you would see the numbers really go up

[pinqy]

7. Why would they count people no longer receiving UI in a measure of UI claims???

That doesn't make any sense. For the official Unemployment rate, they do count everyone, not just those recieving claims, and the number is a lot bigger. The reference week for the August Unemployment rate was August 7-13 and showed a not seasonally adjusted level of 14,008,000 unemployed. That same week there were 7,336,185 receiving Unemployment Insurance benefits (all programs).

So yes, they do count people not receiving unemployment insurance, just not in the Unemployment Insurance Report.

[WorseBeforeBetter]

6. NC unemployment jumped to 10.4%.

N.C. unemployment up to 10.4% in August, significantly higher than national average
http://business.blogs.starnewsonline.com/16347/n-c-unemployment-up-to-10-4-in-august-significantly-higher-than-national-average/