The number of people seeking unemployment benefits for the first time plummeted last week to 352,000, the fewest since April 2008, the Labor Department said Thursday. The decline added to evidence that the job market is strengthening.Read the rest here.
Weekly applications fell by 50,000, the biggest drop in the seasonally adjusted figure in more than six years. The four-week average, which smoothes out fluctuations, dropped to 379,000. That was the second-lowest such figure in more than three years.
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Measuring employment singularly via unemployment benefit applications seems disingenous. There's more indicators in play and the NYT knows better.
For instance, how many new jobs have been created? Per a column by former Reagan Asst Sec of Treasury Paul Craig Roberts (www.paulcraigroberts.org), it takes about 130,000 new jobs per month to keep up with population growth. As of December 2011 there was a deficit of 12,000 jobs. Dr. Roberts got these stats from Walter Williams' www.shadowstats.com. In addition to the 12,000 job deficit, December's mark was overstated by 42,000 due to that month's seasonal increase in courier/messenger jobs. Overall, Williams states that total long-term unemployment is currently 22.4% (!!!). The link for this particular column is: http://www.paulcraigroberts.org/2012/01/06/december-payroll-jobs-report/
It's unfortunate that the NYT can't be trusted to give the actual facts regarding the country's economic situation. Instead, they obfuscate and confuse their readers in order to hold up the facade of progress, "It's ok dear reader, things are looking up. You can go back to sleep now."
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