11,000 more unemployed people today

[blizzard]

re-read the post. added to it.

[stormchazer]

:roll:

The Labor Department data showed that for the work week ending Jan. 17, new applications filed for unemployment insurance dipped by a seasonally adjusted 1,000 to 341,000, the lowest level since the end of December.

The more stable four-week moving average of claims dropped by 3,250 to 344,500, the lowest level since January 2001.

With the four-week moving average of jobless claims running below 400,000 for 16 straight weeks, economists are growing more confident that the fragile job market is turning the corner.

341,000 new applications for unemployment insurance....Hmmmm sounds great to me..

Jonless claims dropped due to the fact that their benefits ran out, they are still unemployed. Sure, some of them found jobs, but come on....lets wake up and see that the numbers get skewed depending how you want to interpret them.

Look, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the average US unemployment rate has been about 5.64% since the statistics has been kept. Congress has extended benefits twice which means, the unemployed have had benefits for going on 20 months now. We all know, that if you get paid for doing nothing, then the job your willing to take must be greater then that free money you are getting. I suggest that if we had cut off the benifits earlier, you would find that more people were back in the workforce.

Even in a perfect economy, there will be jobless claims.

http://www.nationalreview.com/script/printpage.asp?ref=/nrof_malpass/malpass200312040904.asp

The four-week moving average of initial jobless claims has fallen to 359,000. This is below the post-1989 average and not far above the 315,000 level common in the mid-1990s when job growth was fast. As a percentage of employment, the current weekly claims level is consistent with past periods of fast job growth.

[coriolis]

Here's another way to view the amnesty for illegal aliens:

Instead of exporting jobs to the third world, let's import the third world here! Keep the jobs here and tax 'em!

If someone is willing to pick oranges for $1 an hour instead of $7 an hour and if it means that I pay $3 for a bag of oranges instead of $10, then that's great - I have $7 to go buy something else.

[mf_dolphin]

Our steel industry has lost it's artificial prop from the US government. For decades they've failed to upgrade their facilities and therefore are no longer competitive in the world market. Add to that the impact of labor unions and the death knell tolled for this industry 30 years ago. The electronics industry went through this 20 years ago. How many of have TV's made in the US? None I would bet.... What's happened tot he US auto industry? They finally started putting out a quality product after losing a huge portion of their market to the Japanese and Europeans.

Our economy is on the way back from a devastating blow dealt by 9-11. It can and will return to it's pre 9-11 strength. I don't know what stock market Dan is watching but my 401K has recovered all of the losses of the past 2 years and is doing just fine now. The jobs will come back as well.