Democrat Doomsayers Defied: Jobless Claims Near 57-Year Low Under Trump

More blockbuster economic news the legacy media refuses to report. The question for this election is, after all the media hoaxs and fake news they produced, will they still undly influence American elections. In other words, how dumb are the American people?

American Amnesia

U.S. Workers Suffer Fewest Layoffs Since 1969

The great American job market rolls along.

There are economic numbers that do not fit the doomsday narrative. Take unemployment claims. James Freeman reports: Democrats keep saying that Donald Trump owns the economy, and pretty soon they may regret giving him all the credit. Lucia Mutikani reports for Reuters today on some historic good news for everyone who relies on a paycheck: “The number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment benefits ​dropped to near 57-year lows last week amid low layoffs, suggesting job growth picked up in October after September’s underwhelming performance….” This historic decline in layoffs must surely count as the most underreported economic story of a year in which media pundits keep telling us that new technology is going to put us all out of work. Such pundits and their gloomy media predecessors have been on a losing streak for more than a century. But maybe this time will be different! The U.S. job market isn’t just proving the pundits wrong. It also keeps exceeding the expectations of professional economists (Wall Street Journal).

Democrats keep saying that Donald Trump owns the economy, and pretty soon they may regret giving him all the credit.

Lucia Mutikani reports for Reuters today on some historic good news for everyone who relies on a paycheck:

The number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment benefits ​dropped to near 57-year lows last week amid low layoffs, suggesting job growth picked up in October after September’s underwhelming performance.

The weekly ‌jobless claims report from the Labor Department on Thursday, the most timely data on the economy’s health, continued to show no material stress in the labor market from the oil price shock stemming from the US-Israeli war with Iran.

This historic decline in layoffs must surely count as the most underreported economic story of a year in which media pundits keep telling us that new technology is going to put us all out of work. Such pundits and their gloomy media predecessors have been on a losing streak for more than a century. But maybe this time will be different!

The U.S. job market isn’t just proving the pundits wrong. It also keeps exceeding the expectations of professional economists. Ms. Mutikani at Reuters notes:

Initial claims for state unemployment benefits fell 6,000 to a seasonally adjusted 194,000 for the week ​ended October 17. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast 200,000 claims for the latest week. It was the sixth consecutive week that claims remained at or below the 200,000 mark.

What would we do without experts?

This column noted in July when the weekly new claims number hit its lowest point in 57 years, but Ms. Mutikani notes that the latest figures may represent an even more meaningful achievement:

Claims are within striking distance of the 189,000 level touched in mid-July, which was the lowest reading since 1969.

The four-week moving average of claims, seen as a better measure of labor ​market trends as it irons out week-to-week volatility, dropped 1,000 to 197,750, the lowest level since 1969.