Applications for US jobless aid fall, suggests strong hiring

[Omaha Steve]

Source: AP-Excite

By JOSH BOAK

WASHINGTON (AP) — Fewer Americans applied for unemployment benefits last week, a sign that employers expect ongoing economic growth and the need to hold onto workers.

The Labor Department said Thursday that applications for unemployment benefits fell 4,000 last week to a seasonally adjusted 294,000.

The four-week average, a less volatile measure, slipped 250 to 290,500. That average has plunged 16 percent in the past 12 months, as averages have stayed at historically low sub-300,000 levels since September.

Applications are a proxy for layoffs. As fewer workers are being let go, employers are bringing on new employees to meet customer demand.

FULL story at link.



FILE - In this Oct. 22, 2014 file photo, job seekers fill out a job applications at a Bed Bath and Beyond table at a job fair in Miami Lakes, Fla. The U.S. Labor Department reports on the number of people who applied for unemployment benefits for the week ending Jan. 3, 2015 on Thursday, Jan. 8, 2015. (AP Photo/Alan Diaz, File)

Read more: http://apnews.excite.com/article/20150108/us--unemployment_benefits-b40083b7dd.html

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Remember all those quotes about "Obama owns this economy"?

Obama and Romney on the issues: Economy: http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/decision2012/obama-and-romney-on-the-issues-economy/2012/10/04/0fa1f6c6-0e68-11e2-bd1a-b868e65d57eb_story.html

[sharp_stick]

1. Didn't you hear

We've got the new Republican majority to thank for all of our newfound economic happiness.

Or maybe we're just not really reading the numbers right and everything is still in the shitheap.

I'm sure we can count on hearing more of both of these opinions soon from the usual sources.

I really hope we can keep this up, it's going to take a lot of work to dig ourselves out of the hole we've been in since 2007.

[Man from Pickens]

2. "Suggests"?

That's an extremely odd thing to appear in a non-editorial alleged-news story, and even more so when you read the article to see just how tenuous and speculative the suggestion is.

At the end of the day, reading tea leaves and casting chicken bones (the functional equivalent of what is being done to create said suggestion) is all nonsense.

When the job market actually picks up for real - not dependent on one-shot occurrences nor adjustments nor speculation - you will see wages go up. If it doesn't involve wages going up, then the job market is not improving. Where there is more demand for labor, labor can command a higher price.