Jobless Claims Leap to Eight (8) Month High

[AgeOfEnlightenmentSCP]

Jobless claims are UP. This story reports it as a "surprise", but is it really? We know Obama killed Osama, but we also know Obama killed the economy and is still standing over the body blugeoning it.

finance.yahoo.com/news/Jobless-claims-jump-points-to-rb-1852891451.html?x=0

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The number of Americans filing for jobless aid rose to an eight-month high last week and productivity growth slowed in the first quarter, clouding the outlook for an economy that is struggling to gain speed.

While the surprise jump in initial claims for unemployment benefits was blamed on factors ranging from spring break layoffs to the introduction of an emergency benefits program, economists said it corroborated reports this week indicating a loss of momentum in job creation.

[marshabar1]

Osama's death didn't create jobs?!?!?!?!?!? T-shirts? Coffee mugs? All made in China I suppose.

[Deleted]

That liberal stranglehold on business is working out REAL well!! TAX them, RESTRICT them, FORCE them, THREATEN them, SUE them--- yeah-- right out of the USA or in to retirement or bankruptcy. Thank you, team Obama!

[Deleted]

It's my opinion that it wasn't so much Obama, but the Democratic take over of both the house and the senate two years before Obama. Just match up the lost jobs with the years that the Democrats held congress.

[❤ mollymouser ❤]

Let's not overlook the stupidity of various state governments in this mess. (After all, I'm from California ... you should see our economic mess over here!)

[Deleted]

May 6, 2011 11:27:37 GMT -5 ❤ mollymouser ❤ said:

Let's not overlook the stupidity of various state governments in this mess. (After all, I'm from California ... you should see our economic mess over here!)

I used to live in Illinois up to 11 years ago. I'm soooo glad I'm not there anymore. That place is like a liberal nightmare of rising taxes.

[Deleted]

AZ is not rich, by any means, but we have some good people trying to minimize the damage of liberal policies. Tough going, though, that's for sure. Battle never ends............

[ugonow]

<<<< "The Labor Department says the economy added 244,000 jobs last month. Private employers shrugged off high gas prices and created 268,000 jobs -- the most since February 2006.

The gains were widespread. Retailers, factories, financial companies, education and health care and even construction companies all added jobs. Federal, state and local governments cut jobs.">>--------- ---And here I thought conservatives considered private sector jobs were good,and a bloated public sector bad............my mistake,I guess.......

[ugonow]

ABC's Dan Arnall (@abcmoneyguy) reports:

The recovery is on track according to new government figures on the nation’s jobs situation out this morning even though the unemployment rate ticked back up to 9 percent.

The monthly jobs report for April shows solid hiring across many sectors of the economy. Employers added 244,000 new positions during April, the strongest month since last year’s Census-inspired hiring boom.

The report bested economist expectations (+185,000). Upward revisions to both February and March’s results added another 46,000 to the previous totals.

When one looks only at the private sector – factoring out gov’t hiring and firing – we’re seeing a lovely trend, with some 1.7 million positions added in the past year. For the past 14 months we’ve seen private firms adding to payrolls – not a single month of net jobs loss. Since February 2010 the private sector has added 2 million new jobs, an average of 150,000 per month.

The nation’s unemployment rate – the result of a separate but simultaneously released survey of households instead of businesses – showed an uptick to 9.0 percent.

That “rate” translates into some 13.7 million Americans wanted to work last month but were unable to find any. That kind of move is statistically significant, and is likely the result of people who were discouraged (didn’t believe there was work available so they didn’t even look) coming back into the mix for a job.

Economists had been predicting a steady state of the unemployment rate at last month’s 8.8 percent, but because the move can likely be attributed to people coming back into the labor force after dropping out, it’s likely a good thing. Several are saying this move is an expected part of the “healing” of the jobs market.

One bit of bright news – the number of long-term unemployed people (those who have been out of work for more than 27 weeks) dropped significantly last month. According to government figures, there are 283,000 fewer long-term unemployed in April than in March. Year-over-year the figure has dropped by 820,000.

The broader unemployment rate, which includes people who took part-time work when they wanted full-time or were just not looking because they didn’t believe there was a job out there is now at 15.9 percent (or 24 million). That’s actually pretty good as this measure – called the U-6 – was at 17 percent a year ago.

[ugonow]

but we also know Obama killed the economy and is still standing over the body blugeoning it.

lol...don't get me going about his TARP.......

[Deleted]

And here I thought conservatives considered private sector jobs were good,and a bloated public sector bad............my mistake,I guess.......

No, your right. That's because government jobs don't "produce" anything (& of course your can't collect enough taxes on government workers to pay their salary. The more workers you have, the further in the hole you are). Government workers compare to a company that has 10 executives & one worker. The one worker just can't produce enough to cover all of those executives salaries. Same applies to our huge government. We need more private businesses to produce so that we can pay those government workers. So yes, we need less government.

And of course it didn't help that President Obama's stimulus package was made up of all of the Dimocrats failed projects over the years. The stimulus package was like hunting hummingbirds with a shotgun. Sure you may get one, but there's nothing left when you do (& there's nothing left after that stimulus package either).

[ugonow]

The market seems to agree------NEW YORK (AP) -- The biggest corporate hiring spree in five years is reversing a weeklong slide in the stock market.

The Labor Department reported Friday that private employers added 268,000 jobs, the most since February 2006. Taking into account job cuts of government workers, the economy added a total of 244,000 jobs overall last month, well above the 185,000 jobs that analysts had predicted. It was the third straight month that featured an increase of more than 200,000 jobs.

[vonnie6200]

May 6, 2011 19:22:40 GMT -5 @toughtimes said:

Can someone tell me how we can have a huge increase in unemployment claims and new jobs at the same time? What in tarnation?

Apparently the stats are from two different collection methods (neither of which is completely accurate.)

[handyman2]

Just the number of people put out of work by the tornados will ofset any gains but that won't show up until next months cycle. The only thing that can be a positive is that construction will rebound in the next quarter because of it, we hope.

[Deleted]

New PRIVATE sector jobs... massive cuts now and coming in PUBLIC sector jobs... contributes to the issue...

That's what was wanted? was it not?

[Mkitty is pro kitty]

because government jobs don't "produce" anything

You mean like roads, bridges, medical research, dead terrorists, etc.? Try and produce a logical argument next time. Not using the same old partisian script might help.

Government workers compare to a company that has 10 executives & one worker

But one CEO that compares to 400 workers sure makes more sense, LOL. How much do you get for shining their halos?

[AgeOfEnlightenmentSCP]

mkitty, where does the government get the money to hire people to build the roads and the bridges and kill the terrorists? From the productive sector. All wealth is private. The government doesn't generate wealth or produce anything in any real sense. It MUST get the money to do what it does from the PRIVATE SECTOR. Next time YOU try using logic- try reverse engineering your roads and bridges to see where they REALLY come from.

[AgeOfEnlightenmentSCP]

And unemployment is back up to 9%. Obama promised that if he got his porkulus bill, unemployment wouldn't rise above 8%. And here's some facts and logic for you: NO President has ever been re-elected with unemployment above 8%. The White House's own internal polls are in the "impossible" range now for re-election according to an insider that speaks to Rush Limbaugh on a daily basis. Rush Limbaugh's accuracy rating: 98.6% according to the outside opinion audit conducted by the Sullivan Group.

[formerexpat]

"The Labor Department says the economy added 244,000 jobs last month.

McDonalds accounted for more than 25% of the added jobs last month.

[ugonow]

Yes,you are right.How silly of me to see several months of private sector growth and a shrinking public sector as a good thing. Obama picks his nose and eats his boogers. Those record profits are really starting to tic me off also.