Initial jobless and continuing claims fall in October's final week
Filed under: Economy
More good news on the employment front: Initial jobless claims fell 20,000, to 512,000, for the week ending Oct. 31, and continuing claims declined 68,000, to 5.75 million, the U.S. Labor Department announced Thursday. A Bloomberg News survey had expected initial jobless claims to fall to 523,000 this week. The four-week moving average, which economists view as a better indicator because it smooths out anomalies for strikes, holidays or other idiosyncratic events, decreased 3,000 to 523,750. A year ago, initial jobless claims totaled 488,000 and continuing claims totaled 3.86 million.
Economists also monitor the continuing claims stat because it provides a snapshot of how long it's going to take the typical person to find comparable employment after losing a job. In general, continuing claims above 3 million reflect a slack labor market and point to extended, six- to nine-month (or longer), job searches.
In response to these conditions, the U.S. Senate on Wednesday voted unanimously to offer up to 20 more weeks of unemployment benefits to those who have been out of work for an extended time, The New York Times reported. The measure ups the maximum weekly benefit claim to 99 weeks, or nearly two years, which is the longest period allowed in some states. As early as Thursday, the U.S. House is likely to approve the Senate measure, which differs from an earlier House version, so that President Obama can sign it into law.
The largest increases in initial claims for the week ending Oct. 24, the latest week for which data are available, were in California, 14,394; North Carolina, 3,190; Oregon, 3,131; Georgia, 2,549; and New York, 2,287. The largest decreases were in Indiana, -2,346; Puerto Rico, -1,479; Iowa -969; Nevada, -605; and Florida, -545.
Also, the highest insured unemployment rates for the week ending Oct. 17, the latest week for which data is available, were in Puerto Rico, 6.4 percent; Nevada, 5.4 percent; Oregon, 5.4 percent; California, 4.9 percent; Pennsylvania, 4.9 percent; Arkansas, 4.8 percent; Wisconsin, 4.8 percent; Michigan, 4.7 percent; Alaska, 4.6 percent; North Carolina, 4.6 percent; and South Carolina, 4.6 percent
Economic Analysis: Today's reports shows more progress regarding the U.S. labor market. Investors should note how the totals for the states with the largest increases in jobless claims (except California) are getting consistently smaller. Historically, that's been an indicator of an improving employment situation and that layoffs are coming to an end. Of course, 512,000 initial jobless claims are still high, but if they repeatedly fall 15,000-20,000 per week, that would signal a decent-size economic recovery.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
11-05-2009 @ 9:40AM
Paul said...
Use a Lot of Caution when reading these numbers. In States like Florida,these numbers do Not reflect the Large number of workers who have given up looking for jobs and are moving out of State or those whose Unemployment benefits have expired. Also, the Government still continues to Artificialy Prop the Markets using False numbers as fast as real investors are pulling out
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11-05-2009 @ 9:52AM
robert said...
thank God for the internet where people can talk and see through these lies....here in Ohio we have over 10% unemployment and we are being INVADED by Michigan residents looking for work....
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11-05-2009 @ 11:52AM
sandy said...
These people always put a spin on these numbers ,,A 1/2 million jobs lost, does not sound like a recovery ,,,,,I live in NY ,,Long Island ,and you should see all the storefronts up for rent or abandoned ,,in my little town ,,I don't know what these talking heads are looking at ,,This looks bad to me ,
11-05-2009 @ 10:15AM
JackRider said...
Quiz: The open lie system of the usa's business and government and be attributed to what famous entity?
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11-05-2009 @ 10:17AM
Alan said...
This is all mental masturbation, they do not take in consideration the people who just gave up or their unemployment checks just ran out.
And even more important they could not live on what they were getting so they had to find a job.
By the way l can't tell you how many people are working off the books and still collecting unemployment insurance.
They have morons watching over this!!!!!!
This is quite the joke!
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11-05-2009 @ 10:34AM
ken said...
Unemployment benefits have precisely nothing to do with the calculation of unemployment by the BLS. If nobody in the entire US were getting unemployment benefits, the unemployment number would be exactly the same.
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11-08-2009 @ 3:46PM
BREKA said...
FELLOW AMERICANS, WAKE UP TO REALITY!!!!!!!!!!
OUR PREVIOUS ADMINISTRATION HAD EIGHT (8) YRS OF DISTRUCTIVE CONDUCT, AND THE FOOL HEARTED EXPECT ALL REPAIRS OR CORRECTIONS TO BE MADE IN NINE (9) MOS. SINCE INAUGERATION. TRY THIS AS A COMPARISON, TAKE A HAMMER, CLUB OR TOOL OF CHOICE, AND FOR EIGHT(8) MINUTES, DESTROY WHAT EVER YOU CHOOSE, THEN IN FORTY-FIVE (45) SECONDS, SEE IF YOU CAN REBUILD IT TO ITS ORIGINAL FORM, OR BETTER YET, TO AN IMPROVED STATE. IT CAN'T BE DONE, SO GIVE PRESIDENT OBAMA AT LEAST AS MUCH TIME TO CORRECT/ REBUILD OUR ECONOMY AND THE USA AS GWB & SNEAKY DICK HAD TO DESTROY OUR ECONOMY, ALL BECAUSE OF A BIG LIE ABOUT "WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION".
TRY THE EXAMPLE: THINK ABOUT THE COMPARISON. IF YOU'RE A MIRACLE WORKER YOU MAY BE ABLE TRY, OR ELSE GET REASONABLE.
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11-05-2009 @ 11:22AM
justlegalizeit09 said...
this report is BS and is just a ploy to raise the stock market artificially to try and show that the stimulus is working..... horrible... if it was working then there would be a lot less than half a million jobs lost each week
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11-05-2009 @ 1:35PM
Russ said...
Anyone who follows the monthly BLS unemployment numbers know they will be revisied upwards in later months!The politicians in Washington who are in charge have failed to create jobs over the past 10 months of Obama in charge!It is the economy stupid! Not health care! Why can't Obama and all his czars figure this out? The American public's #1 issue is jobs and the economy! 512,000 Americans applying first time for unemployment in not acceptable! It has been over 500,000 new filings all year! Pink slip these fools!
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11-05-2009 @ 11:51AM
Joe said...
Stop this insanity! It is not good that we have 500,000 more people applying for unemployment!
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11-08-2009 @ 7:50PM
BREKA said...
ARE THERE REALLY THAT MANY STUPID PEOPLE IN AMERICA THAT BELIEVE THE GOVERNMENT CAN CREATE ENOUGH JOBS TO HAVE ZERO UNEMPLOYMENT IN (10) MOS???? GWB & SNIGH DICK SHIPPED OUR GOOD PAYING JOBS TO CHINA, TAIWAN ETC, ETC IN EXCHANGE FOR BORROWED MONEY TO FIGHT A WAR THE USA DIDN'T BELONG FIGHTING. SO NOW TO GET ADEQUATE EMPLOYMENT, WE NEED TO TAX THE RUN-AWAY COMPANIES PRODUCTS TO THE MAX THAT ARE SHIPPED BACK TO THE USA... THAT WILL FORCE THE RUN-AWAY COMPANIES TO RETURN TO THE USA.
EMPLOYEES NEED EMPLOYERS, AND VICE-A-VERSE
WHEN EMPLOYERS (CO.S) ARE GONE, THERE'S NO JOBS.
1. CONFIDENCE: IS KNOWING WHAT YOU'RE TALKING ABOUT.
2. IGNORANCE: IS CORRECTABLE THRU EDUCATION.
3. STUPIDITY: IS FOREVER, IT CAN'T BE FIXED.
BEFORE YOU TYPE YOUR COMMENTS, KEEP 1, 2, OR 3 IN MIND TO SEE WHERE YOU FIT....
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