So much for that jobless recovery
The number of Americans filing first-time claims for jobless benefits took an unexpectedly sharp plunge last week, reaching a level not seen since before the economy tumbled into recession in 2001, a government report showed on Thursday.
A separate report showed U.S. business productivity soared in the third quarter, suggesting little risk inflation will flare despite signs the economic recovery is on firmer ground.
Initial claims for state unemployment aid fell 43,000 to 348,000 in the week to Nov. 1 from a revised 391,000 the prior week, the Labor Department said. It was the lowest level since late January 2001, two months before the recession began.
But wait, there’s more:
Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan delivered an upbeat assessment of economic prospects, saying Thursday the odds “increasingly favor” a revival in job growth.
Sounds like good news to me.
November 6th, 2003 at 11:59 am
That ‘spalt’ you hear is the Democratic leadership jumping from windows.
November 6th, 2003 at 1:09 pm
The number of Americans filing first-time claims for jobless benefits took an unexpectedly sharp plunge last week, reaching a level not seen since before the economy tumbled into recession in 2001, a government report showed on Thursday.
That’s new unemployment claims. That means fewer people are losing their jobs. That doesn’t tell us anything about whether already-unemployed people are getting jobs.
I seriously hope Greenspan is right. Because we need a serious revival in job growth to make up for the 2.6 million jobs lost so far…
November 6th, 2003 at 6:50 pm
UPDATE!!!!
It has just been revealed that there are only 5 people in the United States that are unemployed….!!!
In other news, Democrats and pinko liberals are complaining that its all Bush’s fault that these 5 people are jobless. Many of them plan on debating against Bush as to why these 5 people are still jobless and the economy grew a staggering 8% along with the DOW getting ready to hit 10K…stay tuned…
November 7th, 2003 at 1:06 am
Sorry, Justin, but the number of unemployed people in this country has increased across the board from September 2002 to September 2003, the latest stats available. The total number of unemployed persons increased by just over 2 million over that span. That’s 2 million more people (about 12.5 million total) who don’t really give a rat’s ass what the Dow is doing.
It could be that some jobs have been added in October and the beginning of November, but I doubt it’s 2 million jobs. And those numbers don’t count the jobs lost between January 2001 and August of 2002.
The unemployment rate in January 2001 was 4.1%. In September of 2003 (latest available data), it was 6.1%, an 33% increase.
So other than estimating the total number of unemployed persons by a mere 12,499,995, and other than the fact that your 8% growth is over one quarter, and ignores the ten previous losing quarters, I suppose your argument could be valid.
November 7th, 2003 at 1:07 am
Ack, that should read underestimating. Actually, it should probably read “misunderestimating.” *ducks*
November 7th, 2003 at 4:16 pm
your still a pinko… 🙂
total employment is approx 4-5% of the working pop being unemployed at one time. i dont see unemployment rates at 6-6.5% beinag all that bad considering that most of the unemployed are from low skill manuf jobs.
November 9th, 2003 at 2:44 am
I may be a pinko, but at least I can spell and use the shift key. 😉 You’re not so fortunate.
6-6.5% unemployment isn’t a problem for you because it’s on a Republican’s watch. If it were on a Democrat’s watch, you’d be all over it. The fact that you ignore is that there are a hell of a lot more unemployed people now than there were when Bush took office, even with the “whopping” 300,000 jobs gained.