Jobless claims lowest since 1973, surely I live in the land of milk and honey

catch22

I am really surprised so many manufacturing (1970's,80's high wage) and related jobs had moved to other service sector jobs (2016 McD's, $ store, etc. low wage)

I'm too busy to crunch or look at any other real numbers related to this report (gotta go outside, a bit above freezing temps in my part of Michigan).
You may insert a smiley face anywhere you choose.
I thought about linking "Pleasant Valley Sunday" and the lyric; but I'll leave that to Ted, if he chooses.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-04-14/u-s-jobless-claims-unexpectedly-fall-to-match-lowest-since-1973

Hey, have a good one !
Catch

Ted

@catch22 & MFO Members: Bespoke Slant:
Regards,
Ted
https://www.bespokepremium.com/think-big-blog/jobless-claims-back-down-to-1973-levels/

TSP_Transfer

And another take

Taken at face value, today’s numbers provide cover for dismissing yesterday’s surprise decline in retail spending in March as noise.

.....Even if you’re not inclined to embrace conspiracy theories, there’s still reason to wonder why economic growth isn’t stronger. The jobless claims figures suggest that we should be seeing GDP growth of 3% or higher. Maybe that’s coming. But it’s not showing up in the current run of nowcasts. Instead, it appears that the Q1 GDP report that’s due on Apr. 29 will deliver disappointing news. The current GDPNow model via the Atlanta Fed is projecting stall-speed growth of just 0.3% (as of Apr. 13). The newly created NY Fed GDP nowcast looks better—1.1% for Q1, as of Apr. 8—but that’s still far below the pace that the jobless claims data implies.

Perhaps the explanation is that the labor force has been cut to the bone in recent years and there’s little room for further cuts. In other words, perhaps there’s a legitimate disconnect between claims and the macro trend. All the more so if you expect that robots will continue to steal jobs from flesh-and-blood workers.

Whatever the truth, jobless claims are telling us that there’s nary a hint of recession risk on the near-term horizon and that job growth will remain strong. The outlook is somewhat more complicated, however, if you’re prone to Machiavellian paranoia on matters related to data analytics at the US Labor Dept.
http://www.capitalspectator.com/us-jobless-claims-drop-to-lowest-level-since-1973/

'newly created NY Fed GDP nowcast looks better"


http://libertystreeteconomics.newyorkfed.org/2016/04/just-released-introducing-the-frbny-nowcast.html#.VxBIHOKV2FV

DanHardy

catch22 said:

I am really surprised so many manufacturing (1970's,80's high wage) and related jobs had moved to other service sector jobs (2016 McD's, $ store, etc. low wage)

When I came to this forum I looked at some past threads and there were discussions talking about how things have changed from the '70s.
The future is not good for workers. Some try to say it is the 1%'s fault. But the die was cast by the policies of the government.

A case can be made that the guns and butter policies of Johnson's led to Nixon withdrawing from the Brenton Woods' agreement and the economic problems that followed.