US filings for jobless applications see the biggest decline in three months
Source: ABC News/AP
October 17, 2024, 8:42 AM
The number of Americans filing for unemployment benefits last week came back down to more recent ranges after a big jump the week before due to hurricanes in the Southeast.
The Labor Department reported Thursday that applications for jobless claims fell by by 19,000 to 241,000 for the week of Oct. 12. That’s well below the 262,000 analysts were expecting.
Applications for jobless benefits are widely considered representative of U.S. layoffs in a given week.
The four-week average of claims, which evens out some of the weekly volatility, rose by 4,750 to 236,250. The total number of Americans collecting jobless benefits rose by 9,000 to about 1.87 million for the week of Oct. 5, the most since late July.
Read more: https://abcnews.go.com/Business/wireStory/us-filings-jobless-applications-fall-19000-biggest-decline-114888852
From the source -
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Unemployment Insurance Weekly Claims
Initial claims were 241,000 for the week ending 10/12 (-19,000).
Insured unemployment was 1,867,000 for the week ending 10/5 (+9,000).
https://dol.gov/ui/data.pdf
Text on a blue background reads "Unemployment Insurance Weekly Claims" with the website "dol.gov" at the bottom.
8:31 AM · Oct 17, 2024
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Where certain organizations point out that such claims are not indicative of the real total, because they do not take the whole picture into account This actual number is higher than some folks want to accept, because it ruins the 'low unemployment, everything is rosy' narrative.
Relying exclusively on a flawed metric to measure the "health" of the economy is misleading. Individuals who've given up looking for work aren't even counted as unemployed, while part-time employees or freelancers who might find only one hour of work per week -- financially unsustainable by any standard -- are treated as employed. Millions of others are actually "underemployed," meaning their jobs pay poverty wages or don't make use of their abilities. And then there are the faces behind the curtain: individuals with physical disabilities or restrictions that prevent them from rejoining the labor force, and low-income families, disproportionately Black and Latino, that are left struggling within the weakening social safety net.
https://www.cnet.com/personal-finance/low-unemployment-statistics-are-misleading-economic-hardship-is-much-worse/
https://smartasset.com/career/problems-with-the-unemployment-rate
Things to consider when discussing 'low unemployment'.
it is just a count of how many people filed for UE in a particular week (and would be very volatile particularly if you have any disasters like a hurricane, which was mentioned as one of the factors that could impact the numbers).
They release these figures each week.
I.e., if someone is temporarily furloughed or laid off due to whatever (business damage, temporary supply chain issues), then they can apply. Once the underlying issue is resolved, they would be back to work again.
The UE usually comes out the first Friday of a month and has its own calculation for what is included. 
Perhaps I was being a bit hasty then. A weekly statistic would move too much to be indicative of the broader figures I was referring to. My bad. 
So they are making good use of our taxpayer money! 