PIN Comment: President Obama continues to claim the economy is rebounding. Perhaps that is true for the fat cats, just look at Wall Street. But for Middle-America and the poor, the opposite rings true. People are still losing jobs, and new ones are far and few in between. The last report shows that unemployment insurance rose by 11,000, “more than economists had expected”.
Who are these “economist” who keep expecting the situation to get better, when we, the American people, know that is not true? It is all around us! What are they basing their expert predictions on? The stock market? That’s nothing more than a good indicator that the rich are getting richer, and the poor are getting poorer!
It’s a form of “legal robbery”, if you ask me.
It certainly isn’t middle-America or the poor that is making the stock market go up, we simply don’t have the money to invest. We are too busy saving our pennies, looking through the couch and the seat of our cars just to scrape up enough change to by Roman Noodles.
But back to unemployment. Now, factor in the hundreds of thousands of Americans who can no longer claim unemployment benefits because their eligibility has run out. The White House seems to sweep this little issue under the rug.
Until people start going back to work, I (like most Americans) expect the situation to continue to decline. It’s just common sense, something these so-called “economist” are severely lacking!
From Fox News:
WASHINGTON — The number of newly laid-off workers requesting unemployment benefits rose more than expected last week as jobs remain scarce amid a sluggish economic recovery.
The Labor Department said Thursday new claims for unemployment insurance rose by 11,000 to a seasonally adjusted 444,000. Wall Street economists polled by Thomson Reuters expected an increase of only 3,000.
The rise was partly a result of large seasonal layoffs in the retail, manufacturing and construction industries, a Labor Department analyst said. The second week of January usually sees the largest increase in claims, unadjusted for seasonal trends, during the year, the analyst said.
Still, the increase didn’t disrupt the longer-term downward trend in claims. The four-week average dropped to 440,750, its 19th straight drop and lowest level since August 2008.
Initial claims are considered a gauge of the pace of layoffs and an indication of companies’ willingness to hire new workers.
Claims have dropped steadily since last fall, as companies cut fewer jobs, raising hopes that hiring may increase soon. Initial claims have dropped by nearly 90,000, or 17 percent, since late October. Two weeks ago, new claims dropped to their lowest level since July 2008.
Despite the recent drop, the economy is not yet consistently generating net increases in jobs. The Labor Department said last week that employers cut 85,000 jobs in December, after adding only 4,000 in November. November’s increase was the first in nearly two years. The unemployment rate was unchanged at 10 percent.
Many economists say the four week average of claims will need to fall to below 425,000 to signal that the economy is close to generating net job gains.
Meanwhile, the number of people continuing to claim benefits dropped sharply to 4.6 million from 4.8 million the previous week. The continuing claims data lags initial claims by a week.
But the so-called continuing claims do not include millions of people who have used up the regular 26 weeks of benefits customarily provided by states, and are receiving extended benefits for up to 73 additional weeks, paid for by the federal government.
More than 5.3 million people were receiving extended benefits in the week ended Dec. 26, the latest data available. That’s a drop of about 135,000 from the previous week.
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