4 week average Initial jobless claims lowest since Clinton was president

In the latest sign that the labor market is -- finally -- firming up:

Wall Street was also reacting to the latest weekly reading on initial jobless claims, which rose 17,000 to 283,000. While that was slightly above the estimate of 281,000 people seeking first-time unemployment benefits, the important four-week moving average – which smooths out short-term noise in the numbers – came in at 281,000, its lowest reading since May 2000, according to UBS.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/markets/2014/10/23/stocks-thursday/17763383/

I wondered why we hadn't seen any initial jobless claims for a while. For a while when they were high in the aftermath of the recession, seems like we'd see a new thread on it every week on it.

Lowest average since Clinton president. And Republicans are telling us we should go back to the "principled" leadership we had under Bush?

 

I can walk around my downtown area and just see the growth and change brought on by this president. New businesses are opening every day, soup kitchens are empty, new houses are being built and the old ones are being renovated. Yup, this is change you can see and feel!

 

About 1.8% mean GDP Growth over the six years of Obama's administration.



The lowest workforce participation rate since 1979 when Jimmy Carter was President.



Wages take a dive as the Obama administration make 1 million new legal permenant residents per year.

Now, Obama has the Government gearing up to make ID's for 4 million illegals per year. The 4 week average Initial jobless claims lowest since Clinton was president is absolutely irrelevant. It's just one of those feel good numbers designed to make the low information voters THINK things are getting better. I think they are getting slightly better, no thanks to Obama and the Democrats. 1.8% mean GDP growth over 6 years is as anemic as it gets. At that rate by the time your grand children are your age thing MIGHT be back to normal.

A quick look at the workforce participation rates and it's easy to see why the 4 week average initial jobless claims are down......a whole lot of people have simply given up looking for work and went to...........

Census: 49% of Americans Get Gov’t Benefits; 82M in Households on Medicaid

Don't be fooled by the OP's rosy picture of the economy, it's like a beautiful piece of fruit that's just rotted on the inside.

 

Why is Labor Force Participation such a big deal to you?

 

It is when folks quit looking for a job and head for the Welfare and Government benefit line. There are 47 Million Americans on food stamp EBT.

 

I find the timing of this "extraordinary" stat to be highly suspicious so close to the election. Remember, this is the King of Lies and his inept administration we're talking about. Dream on...

 

nice job Obama!!!!

 

what splendid news. Personal consumption is still well below 2008 levels. I don't suppose that has anything to do with people having less jingle in their pocket due to part-time jobs, falling out of the workforce and paying more for health care

 

Of course you do. The entire government is just one giant conspiracy that lies for Obama. Except when it produces bad news, then it's reliable.

 

Initial claims rose.................................

and this is somehow good news?

because the "average" is low...............

LuLZ

 

If some OFA paid shill tells you all is well, you need to get with the program.

 

....for creating a nation of lazy dependents demanding their gubmit check.

 

Care to outline what he has done exactly? According to the liberals on this forum, the Republican "obstructionists" have kept him from being able to do anything. But by all means, attempt to reconcile all the conflicting liberal accusations for us.

Or are silly throw away one-liners the best you can manage?

 

Average initial claims being the lowest since Clinton was in office would not be good news to those invested in failure for political purposes.

 

In Realville, we'd be hailing him as a lying sack of (*)(*)(*)(*). Just like we are now.

 

Let's see. Number of uncongenial bullet points presented in post being responded to: 25.
Number of those points refuted, or even mentioned: zero

MOD EDIT - Rule 3

 

Yes, Iriemon, but in between all your partisan cheers, remember this: at the same time, we've got the lowest labor participation rate since 1978! It's easy to have a big Democrat pep-rally about how low the unemployment rate is WHEN SO MANY PEOPLE ARE CONSTRUED AS NO LONGER EVEN LOOKING FOR WORK!

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2014-...est-1978-people-not-labor-force-rise-record-9

If we really do have 92.3 MILLION people out of work, who are really NOT even trying to get a job, then we've got far worse problems than any of you on the Left are willing to admit. To sum it up, "Happy Days Are NOT here again!" Not by a long shot!

 

Which is considerably better the his predecessor's 1.1% average gdp growth.

Yep, its almost the average since 1950 of 63.01%. The lowest its been in that time was 58.4% in Dec '54 and the highest is been was 67.3 in jan '00.

Yes, but that has NOTHING to do with minimum wage, the continuing shift away from manufacturing to service jobs, nor the increased competition for jobs in times of high unemployment. Nor the continuation of a trend over the past 45 years.

Huh?

No its an indicator that things are improving, although its not all that significant unless its part of a trend. things are getting better, or would you prefer to go wallow in the days of the deepest part of the recession's aftermath?

yes 1.8% average growth per year isn't that good, but then again its miles ahead of the 1.1 of Bush. Is that the normal you are talking about?

so the fact that it has been trending down since Jan 00 is of no significance at all, and its all about the fact that Obama has forced all those people to stop looking for work.

I must say you are a master of the "one degree of separation to blame Obama" game.

the nation would be one helluva lot better off, if the republicans hadn't be inculcated to not co-operate or compromise on any legislation.
The most gross example the chronic fight over Obamacare which was a republican idea to begin with as was the individual mandate. Not to mention the "tea party" slash spending, the debt will destroy us, let's shut down the government for giggles, the credit downgrade that cost billions, etc etc etc.

No question Obama is far from perfect as a president. Hell even St.Ronnie had to apologize on national tv for Cover His Arse lying to the American people. He's made some truly awesome miscalculations and judge errors, but on the whole, he isn't nearly the American hating muslim disaster some have convinced themselves his is.

Yeah outrageous, of course its entirely Obama's fault that so many meet the pathetic impoverishment criteria required for the 46 million SNAP beneficiaries.

Under federal rules, to qualify for SNAP benefits, a household must meet three criteria (although states have flexibility to adjust these limits):
◾Its gross monthly income generally must be at or below 130 percent of the poverty line, or $2,116 (about $25,400 a year) for a three-person family in fiscal year 2014. Households with an elderly or disabled member need not meet this limit.
◾Its monthly net income, or income after deductions are applied for items such as high housing costs and child care, must be less than or equal to the poverty line (about $19,500 a year or $1,628 a month for a three-person family in fiscal year 2014).
◾Its assets must fall below certain limits: in fiscal year 2014 households without an elderly or disabled member must have assets of $2,000 or less, and those with an elderly or disabled member must have assets of $3,250 or less.

or who is getting SNAP
http://www.snaptohealth.org/snap/snap-frequently-asked-questions/
SNAP eligibility rules require that participants be at or below 130% of the Federal Poverty Level. Recent studies show that 49% of all SNAP participants are children (age 18 or younger), with almost two-thirds of SNAP children living in single-parent households. In total, 76% of SNAP benefits go towards households with children, 16% go to households with disabled persons, and 9% go to households with senior citizens.

According to demographic data, 43% of SNAP participants are white, 33% are African-American, 19% are Hispanic, 2% are Asian, and 2% are Native American.



then there is Medicaid which is comprised of 40.2 Million non-disabled non-elderly of which 28 million are children and 14.2 million elderly and disabled as of june 2013

Then there are the 42 million seniors receiving Medicare and Social Security.

Who would you cut from getting these benefits?

Its one helluva lot better than the doom and gloom you portray. If the American economy is rotted on the inside, its been festering for decades.

 

Because somebody can only be counted as being "jobless" once, after that they're counted as "unemployed", and after their benefits run out they simply aren't counted.

So the reason why the number is low is because we're running out of people in the country that have jobs to lose.

Its not a time to celebrate friend.

 

Obama



Bush

Did you say 1.1%?

 

..and that surprises you why? They still insist that trickle down voodoo is the way to go after forty years of dismal failure.

 

What a joke.

 

The real voodoo is in office, now there is a real dismal failure.

 

http://www.tradingeconomics.com/united-states/jobless-claims

here is the chart

1 fluke week

This record will break until that week is out of the 4 week average and then be right back up

Its not an accomplishment