Cue the Republican conspiracy theory wackos.
For the week ending Oct. 6, seasonally adjusted first-time claims for unemployment insurance was 339,000, the Department of Labor reported Thursday. This was a decrease of 30,000 from the previous week’s revised figure of 369,000, oriiginally reported as 367,000.
First-time claims haven’t been that low since the week of Feb. 16, 2008…
Meanwhile, as I pointed out yesterday, Gallup’s Job Creation Index is close to its highest level since early 2008, its Economic Confidence Index is up an incredible 80 points (!!!) compared to 4 years ago at this time, and the estimated unemployment rate has fallen again and is now at 7.3% (compared to 7.8% as of late September, according to Gallup, and also BLS). Must be all that “socialism” (snark), the “failed Obama stimulus” (snark x2), “burdensome regulation” (snark x3), and whatever right-wing Big Lies are being spewed about at the moment. Not.
More accurately, what’s astounding is how much economic progress we’ve made in just 3 1/2 years since Barack Obama’s economic policies started kicking in, and IN SPITE OF constant Republican obstructionism, irresponsibility, and a vow to make Obama (and along with him, the U.S. economy) “fail.” It’s time to make that case strongly to the American people, and for the American people in turn to celebrate some good news for a change (they can start by rewarding President Obama by reelecting him for another 4 years!).
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