“The fewest people in nearly 50 years sought unemployment benefits last week, a sign of a strong job market and an unusually low level of layoffs,” Christopher Rugaber reports for The Associated Press.
“Weekly applications for unemployment benefits dropped 8,000 to a seasonally adjusted 196,000 last week, the Labor Department said Thursday,” Rugaber reports. “That is the lowest level since 1969. The four-week average, a less volatile measure, fell to 207,000, also the lowest point in 50 years.”
“The decline is all the more remarkable once you take into account population growth. The size of America’s workforce has doubled since the late 1960s to 162 million,” Rugaber reports. “Early this year, many analysts were concerned that growth was stalling, with the global economy weakening, the Trump administration and China locked in a trade war, and consumers reining in their spending, as the benefits of the Trump administration’s tax cut have faded. Most Americans got a financial boost last year from the tax cut, but it was a one-time bump. But falling applications for jobless aid indicate that employers don’t foresee an economic slowdown anytime soon.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Strong consumer confidence and the discretionary spending it engenders bodes very well for Apple!
In Q119, the Americas accounted for 36.94% of Apple revenue, by far the largest country/region (Europe: 20.36%, Greater China: 13.17%, Japan: 6.91%, Rest of Asia Pacific: 6.93%).
SEE ALSO:
Billionaire CEO Benioff foresees several years of strong growth for U.S. economy – November 28, 2018
U.S. again assumes throne as world’s most competitive economy; first time since 2008 – October 17, 2018
U.S. unemployment rate hits the lowest level in nearly 50 years – October 5, 2018
How President Trump created a tremendous U.S. economic boom – September 7, 2018
U.S. economy logs best performance in nearly 4 years – August 29, 2018
Consumer confidence pops in August to highest level since October 2000 – August 29, 2018
Second-quarter U.S. GDP jumps 4.1% boosting hopes that economy is ready to break out of decade-long slumber – July 27, 2018
Dow rises as Wall Street weighs strong U.S. jobs report, Trump administration’s China tariffs – July 6, 2018
What Apple’s $100 billion buyback plan says about President Trump’s tax cuts – May 2, 2018
U.S. consumer confidence hits 14-year high – March 16, 2018
Dow and S&P 500 close higher on upbeat U.S. labor market data – February 22, 2018
Apple gives employees $2,500 bonuses after President Trump signed the GOP’s Tax Cuts and Jobs Act – January 17, 2018
U.S. sees strongest holiday sales since 2010 – January 12, 2018
Dow, S&P 500 and Nasdaq rocket to new all-time records – January 11, 2018
S&P 500 and Nasdaq rise to records on first trading day of 2018 – January 2, 2018
U.S. employment jumps more than expected in November, boosts U.S. stocks – December 8, 2017
U.S. third-quarter GDP revised to three-year high of 3.3% – November 29, 2017
Goldman Sachs sees U.S. unemployment rate hitting lowest level since the late-1960s – November 20, 2017
American consumer confidence soars to highest level since December 2000 – October 31, 2017
U.S. jobless claims plunge to lowest level since 1973 – October 19, 2017
U.S. economy picks up steam; second-quarter GDP up 3.0% reflecting robust consumer spending and strong business investment – August 30, 2017
U.S. consumer confidence shows Americans upbeat on jobs, economy – July 25, 2017
Trump-Pence 2020 Landslide.
Let’s see if he even gets the nomination.
https://www.politico.com/story/2019/04/15/weld-2020-trump-challenger-1276925
Don’t ignore the details. The article states:
“Another reason for the decline is that long-term unemployment remains much higher than in previous periods when the unemployment rate fell as low as last month’s figure of 3.8 percent. People who have been out of work for 27 weeks or more aren’t eligible for unemployment insurance.”
This complaint was thrown at Obama for 8 straight years while Obama consistently delivered stronger jobs growth than Trump. Look it up for yourself. What are the trends for early retirements and long term unemployment? That is the rest of the story.
A decade long economic expansion is great but the policies of the current administration have not improved the trend at all. Quite the opposite. Companies are hording cash getting ready for the next recession. If and when that happens on Trump’s watch, what spin are you going to put on it then?
Agreed, and another element to not ignore is wage growth, or more accurately, the lack of wage growth at a time of full employment.
Historically, wage growth has averaged +4%/yr when unemployment drops to 5% (the textbook definition of full employment).
But not this time.
The numbers have been almost 3%, but this is before inflation to consider the real wages. For 2018, its +2.9% wage growth before inflation was only +1% in real wage increases (i.e., after inflation).
And despite how much of the 2018 growth is actually attributable to legislated increases in the Minimum Wage, 2018 was down from 2017’s real wage growth of +1.9%. That pretty well belies any claim of effective worker pay benefits from the Dec 2017 tax cut bill.
Graphs are available on Forbes, Patrick Watson’s article from 25 Sept 2018, titled “Real Wage Growth Is Actually Falling” (URL follows, if not edited out by MDN):
https://www.forbes.com/sites/patrickwwatson/2018/09/25/real-wage-growth-is-actually-falling/
People who have not found employment in a specific amount of time (currently 27 weeks) are no longer counted as unemployed. It has been that way for decades, during both Democrat AND Republican administrations.
The Obama recovery continues. When Obama entered office the US was losing nearly 800,000 jobs a month, Trump has at least been able to maintain what he inherited.
Average monthly job growth:
2010 +86K
2011 +173K
2012 +181K
2013 +192K
2014 +251K
2015 +227K
2016 +193K
2017 +179K
2018 +223K
2019 +180K
Thank you Kenya!
Trump isn’t helping the economy, and is guilty of collusion…..
Just keep telling yourself that…..
What specific bill or order has Trump signed in the last year that has directly impacted private employment in the USA? Anyone? I don’t think he ever meets with Congress on anything, he is too lazy to even get permanent department chiefs confirmed by the Senate, which is led by his own party. He soends more time on the golf course and in his private clubs than he does reading or talking to real people.
Regurgitating talking points from Fox to Twitter is not creating jobs.
Since you want to know, I’ll believe Trump was unaffected by foreign money and connections when he provides prooff. He and his weasel son-in-law need to release 5 years of taxes (Hilary did), his Samsung Galaxy 3 Phone records, and the complete unedited Mueller report. If he has nothing to hide, then stop hiding the mysterious phone calls, trips, and payments made between Trump operatives and foreign government officials. He claimed he would release his tax returns many times on the campaign trail, but the slimeball lied.
FYI, I am a Republican. My opinion of Trump isn’t based in partisanship. I think he’s an ineffective leader and a liar. I also believe that the Constitution gives citizenship the right to know that their leaders are not corrupt. Go ahead and make it a law that every candidate from any party should have their funding laid bare. The people deserve to know who’s buying elected officials and bankrolling candidates. If you cannot agree to that, then you are not American and you can kiss democracy goodbye.
Your argument falls apart at your first point – the Senate confirmation process. The democratic minority has tied up the process at every possible turn. At one point in Tump’s administration the Senate had confirmed 174 of Trump’s 416 nominations. By comparison, his predecessors at the same point had far more confirmations — Obama had 359; George W. Bush, 375; Bill Clinton, 340; and George H.W. Bush, 293.
Most of everything else you write is a total disregard for the US Constitution – prove to us you are innocent. That sounds more facist then republican.
BTW, we live in a Constitutional Republic, not a democracy.
No, macarch, you are mistaken. While both factions of infighting partisans indeed take every opportunity to undermine progress, this is not the issue anymore.
In 2013, the senate revised its rules to prevent the minority party from being able to have significant filibuster power. A simple majority cloture vote can break a filibuster. THERE IS NO EXCUSE FOR REPUBLICANS NOT TO PROCEED WITH HEARINGS.
Yes, the Dumbocrats have demanded hearings, and those take time, but we are two years into the Trump presidency and it’s plainly obvious that Trump doesn’t ever talk to McConnell. If they wanted to move faster, then they could.
Perhaps the bigger issue is revealed in Trump’s interviews and tweets. In order to hire and fire idealogues with no oversight, Trump prefers temporary appointments, in many cases against his own party’s objections. Trump’s idea of making the government more efficient is to ram unqualified temp candidates through a revolving door. For a guy supposedly hellbent on an iron curtain of security, it’s quite odd that he couldn’t work with his own party to get several top level defense positions permanently staffed.
Must be too busy tweeting.
“What specific bill or order has Trump signed in the last year that has directly impacted private employment in the USA?”
Why do you arbitrarily limit your demand to “the last year?’ It wouldn’t be because President Trump signed the Tax Cut and Jobs Act into law on December 22, 2017, would it?
So after the first year, Trump should just ride out the rest of the term golfing?
I too would like to know what exactly the POTUS is doing for the shrinking middle class. Encouraging corporations to convert the formerly comfortable middle class into serfs working multiple dead end jobs with no benefits — which is what the Trickle Down “Tax Cut and Jobs Act” represents — doesn’t bode well for the future. America is again divided by rich and poor, and it’s getting close to Great Depression era levels.
A slanted myopic review of the latest unemployment statistics doesn’t change that trend. The president claimed he would personally solve it. What specifically is he doing about it right now?
Yeah, after the first year, Trump should just ride out the rest of the term golfing.
You sound stupid.
Here is the growing list of Trump Administration Accomplishments.
Great Again: American wages and salaries jump; highest level in a decade
On a yearly basis, wages and salaries jumped 3.1 percent, the biggest increase in 10 years. – CNBC, 10/31/18
Try to keep up.
https://www.businessinsider.com/final-mueller-report-worse-for-trump-poll-2019-4
13% is close to Trumps approval rating. 2020 will not be pretty for anyone. I have strong suspicions that Cook and Oprah will be blasting the interwebs with the dirt on Trump.
MDN, why do you allow First 5 years ago Then 3 years ago to drive this site into another rabid Trump discussion????
Breaking News … MacdailyNews exposed as a Fascist hack site.. not worth reading.. downgraded to Crap political news site…
WTF are you babbling about?
Tell me what’s “fascist” about this, genius:
Strong consumer confidence and the discretionary spending it engenders bodes very well for Apple!
In Q119, the Americas accounted for 36.94% of Apple revenue, by far the largest country/region (Europe: 20.36%, Greater China: 13.17%, Japan: 6.91%, Rest of Asia Pacific: 6.93%). — MacDailyNews Take
It’s like one person, a die-hard Obillary holdout, made 4 different names just to show there are soooo many people out there who REALLY believe Trump has done nothing….”Look, look I have proof!! I don’t understand anything but I can GOOGLE something that says I’m right!!”
Meanwhile, people who actually see the real world are moving on with it.
Dude..,
This guy is so bad it’s applicable if you’re a Cheney holdout!
Sucked in, leftist scum. You lose.
Libtards are so easy to trigger, it’s almost no fun anymore…………………………. Almost.
Er…see the post before yours.
Big Fail.
Hardly,
But thanks for proving my point. Couldn’t do it with out ya.
What the F are you on about?
It’s not liberal to point out the MdN First Whatever lies and distortions. Using a Mac blog as a Trump worship site. The more you defend incivility the more you show what a pathetic excuse for an American you are.
Much respect!
Country before party!
Said Jim Steele Plate in the Head!
WEEEEEE I’m having fun now.
let’s see here:
1- Triggered
2- Triggered
Can we go for Three.
This is just too easy.
Irony_Desert much? So ‘YOUR’ trigger point is the lump of red meat thrown by MDN to you partisan Neanderthal dipsticks, that enables pathetically childish gloating?
Logic is not your thing obviously and…yes…self evidently so. Well done.
Do you guys see what you are writing here? From a non-American point of view, when one writes ‘leftist scum’, that speaks of simian intelligence.
The world is laughing at you and you just don’t see it. America used to be great and had the respect of the world. Canadians loved the US. We are struggling now with that. The world is struggling with that now.
MAGA…Mostly Awkward Government Aholes
Dogma leads to fanaticism leads to total blindness….
No where better to see that than in the mindset of irrational Haters!