Unexpected good news as jobless claims drop

Unexpected good news as jobless claims drop

news.yahoo.com

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Unexpected strength from weekly U.S. jobless claims provided rare good news for the troubled U.S. economy on Thursday, but a measure of buying demand in the housing market continued to chill.
The number of U.S. workers applying for jobless benefits fell unexpectedly last week to the lowest level in four months, government data showed, signaling steadier labor market conditions that few had dared to imagine amid widespread talk of recession.

(visit the link for the full news article)

WHAT?
Okay I am going to call BS on this one. I don't know what kind of reports these people are looking at but they are not US reports.
Here is the headline in the Atlanta Journal and Constitution:

"Georgia unemployment increase termed 'troubling'"

and a snippet:

"Metro Atlanta's unemployment rate rose to 4.4 percent in December, up from 4.0 percent the previous month, the state reported Thursday.
For all of Georgia, the rate rose to 4.6 percent, up from 4.2 percent in November but still below the U.S. rate of 4.8 percent, the Georgia Department of Labor said."

Link:
www.ajc.com...

Okay so that is Georgia but these 2 conflicting headlines tells me something is very wrong with the system and how they get their figures.


news.yahoo.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

[edit on 24-1-2008 by SEEWHATUDO]

Just more propeganda. Trying to keep the sheep calm. The job market for many years now has been beyond a total joke. You hear TPTB constantly saying how unemployment is down. What they fail to say is that most folks are having to work TWO jobs with crappy pay just to try and accomplish what folks could do with ONE job 10 years ago in terms of surviving and paying their most basic necessities.

If your unemployment ran out , the system no longer counts you as Unemployed.. HHMM How many people /self employed workers are out of work at this time? The Government does not count them .

im in construction in florida. been out of work for year and half. done side jobs last year that didnt even pay the bills. used up my savings. last six months nothing at all. now im not going to renew contractors liscence and put it on hold so i dont have to pay general liability isurance, workamns comp. and ;iscencing fees. atleast a two year out look on work so have to cut the bills.

I think they key here is the phrase "the numbers applying for jobless benefit"

It's very easy to skew figures based on applications - the government here has been doing it for years and years.

I find it highly interesting that when the government reports some NEGATIVE number, everyone jumps in to claim about how its a sign of "terrible times to come," etc. When the government reports a POSITIVE number, it is "unexpected" and all of a sudden the exact same source is now propaganda.

Amazing how people distort reality to fit their narrow worldview.

well also take into account that alot of places are fighting illegals from collecting what they shouldnt be able to get. you remove illegals from unemployment it makes a big differnce

claims being down could be good.... but we are pretty certain that
there isn't a hiring spree going on in the economy...

on the contrary, massive numbers of people are being 'pink slipped'
in the various Banks and Finance houses, brokers, bond agent, etc...
(BoA is cutting thousands for instance)


the cutting of +40,000 bank & finance jobs is already underway,
one reason why un-employment claims aren't shooting up right now
is because when these thousands of workers are 'let go' they recieve
(well some to most receive) a seperation pay package that includes
monies pro-rated for excused/paid absences not redeemed yet,
vacations not used yet, and some connected people get something like 6 months salary as their final paycheck....

but along with these 'release packages' the individual that got canned
signs a statement that they will not apply for unemployment for a period of time.

->(what's screwy with those deals is that the company that just fired you
after sometimes years of mediocre income (as you were trying to climb the corporate ladder), that company stands to get refunded the unemployment insurance premiums they paid to cover the worker (by law)
....so they kick you to the curb, put a carrot in front of you which you cannotr resist, then they redeem their unemployment premiums which lessens their total cost of that 'firing package' you agreed to accept several months earlier.))

watch out Land Sharks ! feeding on the unwary