The number of Americans filing first-time jobless claims for unemployment benefits fell last week to 297,000 from an upwardly revised 321,000 the week prior. The number of claims is the lowest number seen since May 2007.
Wall Street was looking for claims to rise to 320,000 from an initially reported 319,000. However, some economists reacted negatively to the news, cautioning observers not to read the headlines too favorably. Rather than taking the number as a positive sign, they instead say that long-term high unemployment literally causing the workforce to run out of those elegible to file first-time jobless claims.
Last months jobs report said that — while the headline unemployment rate fell — it did so only due to the amount of people who simple quit from the workforce, altogether.
