News
CNN Money | Initial jobless claims fall to lowest level since 2008
Fewer Americans filed for their first week of unemployment benefits last week. So few in fact, that initial jobless claims were at their lowest level since May 2008.
Politico | Poll: Jobs priority over wealth gap
Growing the economy is more important than reducing the wealth gap between rich and poor, a new Gallup survey shows.
Fox News | On the Job Hunt: Machinists in High Demand
America's economy was forged by machinists. But today, a quarter of the nation's welders, engineers and steelworkers are getting ready to retire. And as budget-strapped school districts cut shop classes, fewer young people are entering the trade.
CNN Money | Morgan Stanley slashing 1,600 jobs
Adding to Wall Street's job woes, Morgan Stanley announced Thursday that it plans to cut 1,600 positions in the first quarter.
Econ Comments
Washington Times | WALKER: When unemployment checks check employment
For some, the true measure of success for government is determining how many more people are on public assistance. In their world, unemployment-compensation checks are viewed as a form of economic development.
Blogs
WSJ: Real Time Economics | Is 400,000 Still The Magic Number for Jobless Claims?
Today the Labor Department reported another big drop in weekly jobless claims –cheering economists and investors who use the indicator to get a quick read on the economy. The 366,000 unemployed Americans who filed initial claims last week marked a three-and-a-half year low.
Reports
NBER | Unemployment Insurance and Job Search in the Great Recession
The estimates imply that UI benefit extensions raised the unemployment rate in early 2011 by only about 0.1-0.5 percentage points, much less than is implied by previous analyses, with at least half of this effect attributable to reduced labor force exit among the unemployed rather than to the changes in reemployment rates that are of greater policy concern.
