Jobless Claims Make Steepest Drop Since February 2010

WASHINGTON -- The number of people applying for unemployment benefits plummeted last week, reversing nearly all the sharp rise reported the previous week.

The number of laid-off workers seeking benefits dropped 44,000 to a seasonally adjusted 434,000, the Labor Department said Thursday. That is the steepest weekly fall since February 2010.

The drop suggests that the increase of 47,000 reported last week was mostly due to temporary factors. The state of New York reported that applications jumped by more than 24,000 two weeks ago, because more school systems had spring break than usual. That led to a spike in temporary layoffs. A new extended benefits program in Oregon had caused applications to rise in that state.

Still, the latest applications figure is far above the 375,000 level typically consistent with sustainable job growth. Weekly applications peaked during the recession at 659,000.

The tornadoes that devastated parts of Alabama led to a jump in applications in that state last week, a department spokesman said, though it wasn't enough to significantly impact the national numbers.

The four-week average of claims, a less volatile measure, rose to 436,750, its fifth straight increase. The average has jumped 46,500, or nearly 12 percent, since early April.

That rise has raised concerns among many economists that hiring could slow this month, weighing on the economy. More jobs are critical to boosting consumer incomes and spending. Consumer spending accounts for about 70 percent of the economy.

Employers have been adding jobs at a healthy pace since February. Companies have added 250,000 jobs each month, on average, in the past three months, the biggest hiring spree in five years. The unemployment rate has dropped nearly a full percentage point in the past five months, though it remains at 9 percent.

The number of people receiving unemployment benefits edged up by 5,000 to 3.8 million, the department said. But that doesn't include millions of additional people receiving emergency benefits under an extended benefits program put in place during the recession. All told, just under 8 million people received unemployment benefits in the week ending April 23, the most recent data available. That's about 30,000 fewer than the previous week.

Comments

[JWerner]

03:55 AM on 05/14/2011

Of course jobless claims are down. That's because there are probably tons of people who no longer qualify for them, having been unemployed for too long. At the same time, it doesn't consider the underemployment factor. Someone working only 10-15 hours a week at minimum wage would be considered 'employed', I think.

This news is positive, to be certain. Nonetheless, you have to take into consideration all the subtle, unreported/unobserved facts that certain powers would rather ignore.

[loki]

02:22 AM on 05/14/2011

if the powers that be reduce the amount of people allowed to be counted, then of course the numbers go down.

[fortressfountain]

05:08 PM on 05/13/2011

If people are working the 10 hour a week jobs the corporations recieve the earned opportunity tax credit and other gov. tax credits-they do not qualify for unemployment when their hours get cut or when they get laid off.
At the rate this country is gone 2/4s of the population will be out of work and will not be counted as unemployed.
That and ah they have a crystal ball where they can tell if people are looking or not.

[katooom]

07:41 AM on 05/13/2011

This is great news. The summer of recovery is coming.

Home depot in our town is hiring.

[babyspittle]

09:49 PM on 05/13/2011

quick!
good news!
distract people!

[Nick9075]

07:36 PM on 05/12/2011

Employed people particularly younger ones have a real I have mine attitude and treat unemployed people with ridicule and derision as well as having their 15 minutes on many if these radio call in talk shows. Yes people think anyone who is poor or unemployed are 'tards' or losers who should just kill themselves

[Nick9075]

07:33 PM on 05/12/2011

Most of the job growth are in either low paying or temp work which may be biggest con and fraud against the worker - no benefits and you will get cut so fast you won't know what hit you when your services are no longer needed. The temp to perm thing is deceptive at best and fraudulent at worst

[cboomer1946]

04:27 PM on 05/13/2011

Agree! Also, I must add, maybe there was a drop because there are many that are just not receiving anymore benefits!

[kenhamlett]

04:52 PM on 05/12/2011

Reading this story, it is almost made to sound like good news. But, with last week's statistically aberrant increase out of the way, the number of people filing for benefits still stands at 434,000 -- and anything above 400,000 is seen as a sign of a contracting job market by the Labor Department and the government. A month ago, these weekly rates were well under 400,000/week and decreasing, but now we have had a full month of rates well above that level, and the numbers continue -- with the one exception -- to increase. It is cause for concern, and it is cause for more action from everyone involved on the creation of jobs for those unemployed.

[MiddleMolly]

06:18 PM on 05/12/2011

Right.... After 7 weeks of numbers in the upper 300's (not great, but much better than things had been for months), we now have 5 weeks in a row of numbers in the 400's.

And the 4 week moving average is a better indicator of what is going on with the unemployment market... After 8 weeks with this number below 400,000, we now have 3 weeks with this number above 400,000... and rising.

[kenhamlett]

07:03 PM on 05/12/2011

I agree completely.

[Debbie McPherson]

06:39 PM on 05/12/2011

Ken
 
Anytime you have 20 -25% of your population under or unemployment it is TERRIBLE ---it's really more of a depression....look at some of tehse figures:
 
http://www.infowars.com/america-is-rapidly-bleeding-wealth-and-jobs-28-statistics-about-the-gutting-of-the-u-s-economy-that-will-blow-your-mind/

[kenhamlett]

07:03 PM on 05/12/2011

On this website, I have encountered a guy (wish I had kept his id information) who is tracking 2008 forward and comparing it to the great depression. When he wrote last -- a month or so ago, the numbers for this "recession" were at levels below those in the 1920s and 1930s. I agree with you that it is very alarming. That's why I think we need dramatic programs and innovative thinking.

[cboomer1946]

04:36 PM on 05/13/2011

Now that was an imformative read. Thanks.

[Carmichael]

04:38 PM on 05/12/2011

There's no doubt the economy is improving, but I agree it's a slow process. Well, leave it to Fox, they would not reflect this, as their sole purpose is to confuse people and to put a bad reflection on Obama and his administration. The truth is, under George Bush presidency the debt went up by by approximately 6 trillion. The debt continued under Obama mainly as a direct result of the stimulus...But what the republican won't admit, is that the stimulus worked. The motor vehicle industry has bounced back and even the banks have bounced back. Things will improve, there is no doubt about that...

[MiddleMolly]

06:19 PM on 05/12/2011

The stimulus would have worked better if it had been even larger. But the numbers are astounding.. We were in a deep free fall when O took office, and it is amazing that things have turned around as fast as they have.. despite the problems that persist in unemployment.

[Carmichael]

07:19 PM on 05/12/2011

You're absolutely correct.

[JWerner]

03:59 AM on 05/14/2011

It also would have worked better had it not been so dominated by tax cuts. 300-400 billion of it was in the form of tax cuts, with little actually put towards 'infrastructure revitalization', as was talked about. Had those billions of dollars been directly infused into the economy in the form of construction contracts and other such things, the effect would have been even better.

[AyeChart]

02:48 PM on 05/12/2011

Or did unemployment applications stay around 434,000?  How can it be both?

[babyspittle]

04:04 PM on 05/12/2011

+$0.05

If it can possibly be good news, be sure to cast doubt.
fox "news" tactics.

[Overtone]

01:38 PM on 05/12/2011

New approaches are needed to really drive unemployment down far enough to matter.

See: A New, New Deal; A Human Investment Tax Credit program: a Capital Homestead Act; 20 Hours of Toil and an article advocating a 4 Hour Work Day - at www.aesopinstitute.org

During WWII we had 2% unemployment. As impossible as it may seem, that can become a realistic goal without inflation.

[frank day]

01:55 PM on 05/12/2011

Full employment should be our goal.

At a living wage with full benefits.

We are too wealthy to accept less.

[Overtone]

02:11 PM on 05/12/2011

Right on!

Incidently, 2% unemployment can also be viewed as "overfull" employment.

This would provide work for anyone seeking it. The only people unemployed would be those seeking to change jobs.

[AyeChart]

02:50 PM on 05/12/2011

Well, we can all be equally poor if we continue down the liberal yellow brick road following the Pied Piper Obama.

Big gov is the problem.  If the gov stayed out of the way, we'd be a lot closer to your goals.

Other than the "benefits" part.  Pay people sufficiently and let them be responsible for their own benefits!  Any other way puts someone else--often a big bro government bureaucrat--in charge of your life.

[MiddleMolly]

03:27 PM on 05/12/2011

Just for the record, during the Clinton years, unemployment got down to its lowest in decades, and that was about 3.9%.

The names of the articles remind me of my thoughts during the summers while in college long ago. I was working in an office, doing mostly mundane, repetitive clerical tasks that could easily be computerized. (I'm sure most of those tasks were computerized in the following years.) I remember thinking that automation would be a great thing: It would take us as a country and as a world so much less time to do what we then did both in manufacturing and in support functions.

I envisioned a world in which people would work 4 day weeks, perhaps less than 8 hours a day, and enjoy the same or better living standard. People would have much more time for family, leisure, vacations, etc. And then somehow in the 80's, it turned back the other way. With more automation, people were expected to work longer and harder, and then wages started to decrease. Somehow everything went backwards, and it is still going backwards.

The problem is that, as we needed less time to do the same tasks, there were no mechanisms in place to guarantee that the advantages of that increased productivity were shared by the workers. Unions were and are in decline, and the "free market" was in ascendancy due to Reagan and his "trickle down" theories. No one was around to speak for the workers.

[Overtone]

04:01 PM on 05/12/2011

Louis Kelso recognized early on that automation would need a new distribution of income.

He invented the Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP) now used by 11,000 companies, as the first tool in a toolbox to encourage almost everyone to derive half of their income from the mailbox as early as possible.

The Capital Homestead Act on the Aesop website is an outgrowth of his work. It is designed to allow almost everyone to accomplish that goal as early in life as practical.

The Brooklyn Project on that site is intended to move such possibilities forward as rapidly as possible. And that is much faster than most would believe.

[Debbie McPherson]

01:17 PM on 05/12/2011

All told, just under 8 million people received unemployment benefits in the week ending April 23, the most recent data available. That's about 30,000 fewer than the previous week.
 
These are the kind of shameful headlines we get from the White House/Corproate News propaganda writers...
 
When you have 25 million Americans either unemployed or underemployed and you're talking about a drop of 30,000 people a month from a number that varies up to 450,000 added a month ---this kind of "reporting' is just plain twisted and misleading...oh, but I forgot ---that is what corproate owned government propaganda  media channels are supposed to do....that and run phony polls like the one in another headline here today...
 
Meanwhile, in the real world, we kown it's getting harder not easier to find a job and if you do find a job it's unlikely it'll pay you enough to actually live on...
 
The real headlines should read day in and day out the rich are getting richer, the executives of multinational corporations who pay virtually no taxes are adding seeing tehir own incomes go up by the millions each year ----and most of that will find tax shelters...
 
meanwhile, on the streets of America, the average worker is paid less than ever,  about $40K on average and of that, they will work until mid-April just to pay the federal taxes on it....
 
 
 

[QolourCouture]

02:08 PM on 05/12/2011

I agree ..I know so many grads who been unemployed for so long, I can no longer count.But since they never entered the job force, they can't put in a claim ..The true numbers are tragic .

[MiddleMolly]

03:33 PM on 05/12/2011

People newly entering the job market, such as grads, are counted in the "official" unemployment numbers. The monthly unemployment rate has absolutely nothing to do with the weekly claims report. They use different sources of data.

http://mollysmiddleamerica.blogspot.com/2011/02/how-unemployment-rate-is-calculated.html

The "alternate" unemployment rate is about 18% now, totalling about 28 million people. New grads are counted in these 28 millions if they want work.

[MiddleMolly]

03:47 PM on 05/12/2011

Just because someone stops receiving benefits, they are not dropped from the unemployment counts. The BLS uses too different sources for weekly claims and for monthly unemployment numbers.

So those 30,000 who are no longer receiving benefits are still counted as unemployed if they are in fact unemployed and looking for work.

My problem with that "total claims" number is that we don't know how many of those people have found work and how many no longer qualify for benefits. So I agree with you that a decline in the number of people receiving benefits is not necessarily a good thing.

Also, an average worker earning 40K with a family is probably not paying a lot of federal taxes. But that doesn't mean that he/she isn't paying a boatload of state and local taxes.. a higher percentage of his/her income goes to state/local taxes than a much wealthier person pays in state/local taxes.

Here are some articles I've written about this:

http://mollysmiddleamerica.blogspot.com/2011/02/how-unemployment-rate-is-calculated.html

About who pays taxes:

http://mollysmiddleamerica.blogspot.com/2011/04/45-of-households-pay-no-taxes.html

[Dan noway]

12:27 PM on 05/12/2011

they CLAIM in my county to have a 11% unemployment rate. but that ACTUAL facts are closer to 22-25%. the only things they are counting ARE the ones who are applying for benefits. NOT the ones who have used up all they can get and still don't have a job. once they use up the benefits, they are no longer counted so the administration uses the lower numbers to make it LOOK like they are doing a better job when in fact, it is FAR worse than they lead you to believe

[USAFWifey]

12:51 PM on 05/12/2011

To reply back to you for the comment I posted. Yes I read facts. I didn't say anything about Clinton. Get a hold of yourself. Want some attention you might want to try the Faux News Boards ok?! O_o

[Debbie McPherson]

01:19 PM on 05/12/2011

Dan
 
It helps when a few corporations take over all the main media outlets --- then they can concoct and spread these lies as if they are the truth....in America the unemployment number is likely between 25-28%

[babyspittle]

04:08 PM on 05/12/2011

Chuckles

They have NOT changed the way unemployment is calculated.

[iam99]

12:22 PM on 05/12/2011

Was there a commensurate surge in suicides?

[Mia Nodecker]

01:17 PM on 05/12/2011

Someone in Weston Florida set himself on fire the other day after being laid off

[Debbie McPherson]

01:25 PM on 05/12/2011

Mia
 
gee, do you think someday the CIA will show up on the streets of America and help the "rebels" launch a revolution against our govt that is working 24/7  to send millions more Ameircans into poverty each year ---while the corporate ruling class see their own incomes expand at a rate of 24 -50% per year....mostly tax free???doubtful.....

[trobts]

12:12 PM on 05/12/2011

That is because unemployed have reached their 99 weeks and cannot reapply -- therefore they are DROPPED from the count of unemployed. Also, students and grads looking for jobs are NOT counted as unemployed because they were NEVER COUNTED as employed. Anyone can skew the numbers and paint a rosier picture BUT the fact remains the unemployed numbers are rising (and their families aren't counted either). Look at the new poverty numbers and it will give you a clue as to where we really are in terms of UNEMPLOYED!

[QolourCouture]

02:11 PM on 05/12/2011

Raise hand..Been unemployed since I graduated in 2009.. I'm sure they never counted me ..I stop looking for work and been riding off my family ..

[MiddleMolly]

04:44 PM on 05/12/2011

No... people who have exhausted their benefits are not dropped from the list of the unemployed. Those counts come from two different sources. And students and grads are counted if they are looking for work.

We have about 8 million people collecting benefits, and 13 million officially unemployed. So 5 million officially unemployed are not collecting benefits. When you count the unofficially unemployed, we have 20 million not collecting benefits.

http://mollysmiddleamerica.blogspot.com/2011/04/what-percentage-of-unemployed-get.html

[USAFWifey]

12:11 PM on 05/12/2011

I guess Bush deserves all the credit?

[Dan noway]

12:32 PM on 05/12/2011

guess you don't read facts huh? Actually it is Clinton that is to blame for this particular problem. bu his own admission, he knew about the banks crashing before bush was even on the ticket and was warned by many he claims but he hid the facts knowing that it wouldn't happen until AFTER he was out of office.

[Debbie McPherson]

06:36 PM on 05/12/2011

USA
 
The decline started even before Bush ---look at these numbers:
 
http://www.infowars.com/america-is-rapidly-bleeding-wealth-and-jobs-28-statistics-about-the-gutting-of-the-u-s-economy-that-will-blow-your-mind/

[USAFWifey]

08:16 PM on 05/12/2011

ok lol