Jobless Claims Hit A 4-Year Low

Investor's Business Daily ^ | 26 November 2004 | Staff

[shrinkermd]

New claims slid 12,000 to 323,000 in the week ended Nov. 20. Economists expected little change. The 4-week average, which smooths out weekly swings, slid 6,500 to 332,000, the lowest in four years. Continuing claims fell 25,000 to 2.755 mil in the week ended Nov. 13 to a 3 1/2-year low. The data signal companies may be less reluctant to hire. More

[shrinkermd]

In spite of all the posts on outsourcing, the employment picture in the US is getting better not worse.

[GRRRRR]

And just wondering...How are the FRENCH doing these days??

35 hour work weeks and 9.9% un-employment still??

"Laissez-faire, it's a way of life"...

[Barlowmaker]

Willie Green is saddened.

[finnman69]

Willie is strangely silent since Nov 2.

[Preachin']

It's Bush's fault.

[ChadGore]

Thank You George W. Bush

[johnb838]

I don't know what we're going to do now that we don't have Little Tommy (Puff) Daschle to kick around any more.

[johnb838]

Do you have a feeling it's Morning in America? I do. I feel like spending some money! Hoo-ah!

[Barlowmaker]

I have every confidence Nancy Pelosi is going to (further) unravel with great aplomb these next years.

[LS]

All of Europe put together, excluding IRELAND, has had . . . ZERO net new employment since 1970. Since 1970!!!!

In that time, the U.S. has created close to 30 MILLION net new jobs.

That's an awful lot of burger flippers.

[Seattle Conservative]

Those are amazing statistics, and ones I've not heard before. The RNC ought to use all that in their 'talking points' as I'm sure there are a lot of other Americans who haven't heard it either. They can add the additional data about France noted above, that ought to please Chirac (not)

[LS]

One reason the RNC is hesitant to use it is that it makes Europe look sclerotic, which it is. Gilder cites the figures of 14 million net in his 1980 (or so) book, "Wealth & Poverty," and I added the # of net new jobs in the Reagan/Bush/Clinton and Bush years.

[UltraKonservativen]

Little Tommy....Damn, I miss him already. Saddened...

[dangus]

In all honesty, the POPULATION in Europe has been declining since 1970, while we have been importing workers like mad.

[LS]

True. But a growing economy will bring in workers---even with all their net immigration in Europe, they still are not creating net new jobs.

China is another interesting case: they are creating net new jobs, but totally out of labor factor inputs, not out of productivity. So they are adding "more hands to the wheel," but not creating better wheels.