KHH1

By Joseph Lawler•7/23/15 8:32 AM

First-time claims for unemployment benefits fell to the lowest level in four decades in the week ending July 18, the Department of Labor reported Thursday, at 255,000.

Claims had not been that low since November of 1973, when the U.S. labor force was 91 million. Today it is 157 million.

Thursday's report easily beat Wall Street analysts' expectations for around 279,000 claims, which are adjusted for seasonal fluctuations.

The four-week moving average of claims also fell, by 4,000 to 278,500.

Unemployment claims have been running under 300,000 since the end of February.

Claims, which are released on a weekly basis, are considered a leading indicator for the labor market, with fewer claims representing a slower pace of layoffs.

The summer slowdown in claims has coincided with ongoing improvement in the monthly jobs report.

Unemployment fell to 5.3 percent in June, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, and net payroll job gains rose to 221,000 averaged over the past three months.

That rate of job creation is slower than the pace for 2014, but still high enough to keep the unemployment rate trending down.

Thursday's jobless claims report covered the week in July which will be used as the reference week for the July jobs report, due out on August 7.

Despite the decades-low initial claims number reported Thursday, government officials believe that the U.S. labor market is still not at full health.

The unemployment rate is several tenths of a percentage point above the 5 percent to 5.2 percent range that Federal Reserve officials see as the long-run health rate. The unemployment rate, however, understates the true weakness in the jobs market because a large number of people have been forced into part-time work or have become discouraged about finding a job and given up searching, thereby falling out of the calculation of the official unemployment rate.

TroubleshooterTim Loc: People's Republic of Oregon

The jobless claim is showing how many are claiming unemployment benefits. After 26 weeks the benefits run out, and the person stops reporting...and they are not counted in the official numbers.

Right now, officially the unemployed number a little over 8 million. The actual number (because those who are no longer reporting) is closer to 16 million.

Let's keep playing with the numbers so things don't look too bad.
http://usdebtclock.org/

Super Dave Loc: Realville, USA

Low information v**ers are easily fooled.

KHH1

People who do not educate themselves and/or continue to look for work...cannot expect people to show up at their door with a job offer....you peoople preach self-reliance then make excuses for many who not seriously approach work.....

America Only Loc: From the right hand of God

This is how SCREWED UP your nasty lil Negroid AAAce is!

America Only Loc: From the right hand of God

COON ALERT!

Trooper745 Loc: Carolina

I know the little white boy in the cartoon is Charley Brown, but who is the little dumb black boy?

working class stiff Loc: N. Carolina

His name is Franklin. Don't see too much of him in Peanuts.

Super Dave Loc: Realville, USA

I thought it was Pig Pen.

working class stiff Loc: N. Carolina

Pig Pen is white....though the cartoon does seem to have the dirt that usually comes with Pig Pen. I remember Franklin from when I was a kid. Then he disappeared, never to be heard from again.

KHH1

wonder why the black boy has to be dumb...i've concluded these people were verbally abused children and they live to make others feel like their POS parents made them feel.....the only logical conclusion....

jasfourth401

There is also another aspect to these numbers that very few talk about, and that is the number of people aged 65 and over who remain in the workforce and deny younger folks jobs. Their ranks have exploded in the last several decades.

http://www.bls.gov/spotlight/2008/older_workers/

KHH1

These people who call me names know they will never be my competition......so all they can do is try to demean, "The Black Guy Who Left Us In The Dust".....like Obama did the GOP....and that is why no matter how nasty you no-bathing white trash phucks try to get.....it will never be able to bother me..i have been where you will never even get to go....... :thumbup: :thumbup:

Trooper745 Loc: Carolina

He is dumb because, ... aparently, ... he believes the r****t s**t that most black parents seem to teach their kids about Republicans and white people all being r****t. Most ignorance about such things is inherited stupidity. Sadly, stupidity seems to be rampant among black youth today.

When I was young, most black people, especially older black people, were smart. The black lady that worked for one of my grandmothers was always a source of good advice.

A friend of my grandfather's was named Caesar, and was around 70 years old, back about 1955. He once told me, "Son, ain't no white man ever purposely mistreated me, but a lot of white men have gone out of their way to help me." I guess that was because Caesar also often went out of his way to help other men, regardless of race. He was a religious man, too, never missed church, and read his bible daily. I couldn't name a single person in that little town that didn't admire Caesar.

working class stiff Loc: N. Carolina

I thought about that too, but decided to ignore it. It seems almost...almost...involuntary, lending creedence to your conclusion.