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Weekly Unemployment Aid Applications Hits Highest Level in Two Months

Sep. 13, 2012 8:57am Jonathon M. Seidl

WASHINGTON (AP) — The number of Americans seeking unemployment benefits jumped to the highest level in two months, although the figures were skewed in part by Hurricane Isaac.

Applications increased by 15,000 to a seasonally adjusted 382,000, the Labor Department said Thursday. That’s up from 367,000 the previous week. The four-week average, a less volatile measure, increased for the fourth straight week to 375,000.

Isaac made landfall as Category 1 hurricane on Aug. 28 in southeastern Louisiana and was later downgraded to a tropical storm. It disrupted work in nine states and boosted applications by roughly 9,000, Labor officials said.

Applications for unemployment benefits reflect the pace of layoffs. When applications fall consistently below 375,000, it usually indicates that hiring is strong enough to lower the unemployment rate.

The figures come after a disappointing jobs report last week. Employers added only 96,000 jobs in August, below July’s gain of 141,000 and far below the average 226,000 a month added in the January-March quarter.

The unemployment rate dropped to 8.1 percent from 8.3 percent, but only because the number of people working or looking for work fell.

Many economists have noted that while layoffs are falling, overall hiring isn’t picking up at the same pace. A separate monthly report from the Labor Department this week showed that layoffs were at the lowest level in July in the 11 years the government has tracked the data.

The economy isn’t growing fast enough to support much more hiring. It grew at a tepid 1.7 percent annual rate in the April-June quarter, down from 2 percent in the January-March quarter and 4.1 percent in the final three months of last year.

Growth isn’t likely to get much better for the rest of this year. Economists expect it to grow at a roughly 2 percent pace. That’s typically too weak to create enough jobs to lower the unemployment rate.

High unemployment and sluggish growth has prompted many economists to forecast that the Federal Reserve will announce new steps to boost the economy after its two-day meeting ends Thursday. Those steps could include a third round of Treasury bond purchases. The goal of the purchases would be to lower interest rates and spur more borrowing and spending.

Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke said in a recent speech that weak hiring is “a grave concern” that causes “enormous suffering.”

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Comments (38)

PhineasJWhoopee
Posted on September 13, 2012 at 3:53pm
They can lie and play with the numbers all they want. People are not buying it. Everybody knows the amount of family and friends in there life that are out of work. Just ask any Mom, she can name them all.

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- Yeah_Buddy
  Posted on September 13, 2012 at 6:49pm
  Job growth is weak so print more money? Like Beck used to chalkboard, if it makes no sense…look behind the scenes.
  
  How about incentivise business with less regulation, tax breaks for hiring and expansion & re-write Obummercare for starters? Maybe starting January 20th…
  
  Report this comment
blackbean
Posted on September 13, 2012 at 3:37pm
Michelle is going to save the day with all those fat farms to rid us of the greatest security threat the U S is facing. LOL Can’t wait for Nov. 6 to put them on the unemployment line.

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affinity
Posted on September 13, 2012 at 2:41pm
No surprises in the news or the views. These unemployed people are going to hit bottom, freak out, and start hurting people and stealing other peoples stuff. It will be interesting to see how bad it really gets.

My new 2012 Predictions:
> The world economy has officially crashed.
> Romney will win with the 2012 election with a Presidential mandate to invade the Middle East.
> Israel will invade Iran and the U.S. will be in a fully committed, declared war, in the Middle East within 6 months.
> Gasoline will go up to $6.49 a gallon, within 3 months.
> The U.S. recession will become a U.S. depression, within 6 months.
> WWIII will be the 2013-2020 Middle East War.
> The U.S. depopulation plan will be postponed until the amount of deaths from the Middle East War have been calculated and attrition rate tables are devised.

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PhineasJWhoopee
Posted on September 13, 2012 at 1:56pm
Jimmy Carters big toothy grin gets wider every day. He no longer has to die as the worst President in history.

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- JRook
  Posted on September 13, 2012 at 2:14pm
  “When applications fall consistently below 375,000, it usually indicates that hiring is strong enough to lower the unemployment rate.” Yo Jonathan how’s your math training doing… when you subtract the 9,000 attributable to the hurricane then both the weekly and moving average are under 375,000. Why isn’t that your story.
  
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Chromo200
Posted on September 13, 2012 at 1:54pm
It seems that people are not concerned about the unemployment .. why becasue 48% are getting something for nothing and we have taught from kindergarden that “I want what you have.”

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pap pap
Posted on September 13, 2012 at 12:42pm
I hate to say I’m happy with this but only because the worse it is in November the easier it should be to get rid of the communist in chief. It seems to me that as soon as he is unelected the entire ecomomy will have a robust resurgence. Did you ever think that the 800,000 jobs that were lost the day he was sworn in were just because he was sworn in, business knew how bad he would be for it but Bush got blamed for that too.

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hauschild
Posted on September 13, 2012 at 11:55am
The devastation continues according to the Marxist’s plan.

Remove tens of millions of middle class workers and get them into the lower class, thereby making the lower class “appear” more equal.

I must admit that it will – and is – working. However, I haven’t yet grasped the pure evil that it takes to accomplish this goal. But, what can you expect from a dude raised by communists, and probably worse, raised overseas??? He never grew up as a normal American does, and you couple that with communism and you have a recipe for mass destruction for the middle class in this country.

Pure, unadulterated evil.

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- Sgt Lamb
  Posted on September 13, 2012 at 6:47pm
  “The middle class is the natural enemy of the working class” Karl Marx ok he said in in them dang foriegn, probably Egghead academic words
  
  Report this comment
BOYSCOUT
Posted on September 13, 2012 at 11:48am
Haven’t we seen enough of these Keynesian policies? Unfortunately, many Americans run their own finances the same way. I wish more would follow Dave Ramsey’s philosophies.

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- Just_Us2
  Posted on September 13, 2012 at 12:45pm
  I am on baby step two!
  
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MiCurmudgeon
Posted on September 13, 2012 at 11:39am
I would prefer a steep depression folllowed by a recovery than Obama’s permanent near recession with minor to no growth.

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sbenard
Posted on September 13, 2012 at 11:03am
Bernanke has said that he thinks he can create jobs by simply monetizing our debt and funneling it endlessly into the stock market. It is truly top-down by creating greater and greater wealth of the already-wealthy, in the hopes that it will trickle down to the middle and poorer classes. Bernanke has engaged in his own fiscal policy and has become unhinged completely. He is a danger to our fiscal soundness! He’s a teenager with a monetary chemistry set that won’t stop until he blows up the house. And WE and the US economy are his guinea pigs!

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sbenard
Posted on September 13, 2012 at 10:59am
Historically, this news would have sent stocks plunging, but today at 12:15 EST, the Federal Reserve is expected to announce a new program of quantitative easing that, for the first time, will be literally INFINITE in size and duration! Stocks have become completely disconnected from the real economy because of Bernanke’s money-printing! He has boasted of his ability to infinitely boost stocks, which he called “the wealth effect”, in a Wall St Journal Op Ed in 2010.
I’ve been reading numerous articles on the unintended consequences of unlimited QE over longer periods. One of the best was written this week by Dr. John Hussman of Hussman Funds. Another was written by John Mauldin and he quotes several others, including William White, whose research was posted on the website of the Dallas Fed, which has as its head one of the few conservatives at the Fed.
We need Romney so much! He has promised to rid us of Bubbles Bernanke! If we don’t get rid of Bernanke, there is going to be hell to pay!

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- NOTAMUSHROOM
  Posted on September 13, 2012 at 11:09am
  Too late. The damage is already done.
  
  Report this comment
ginger100
Posted on September 13, 2012 at 10:54am
If I wasn’t unemployed, I wouldn’t be typing here on the Blaze

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CatherineAnn
Posted on September 13, 2012 at 9:54am
Maybe the media will report this, then again maybe not! What do they think they are doing? When America goes down so do the members of the media and their families. Are these people that stupid? What do they think Obama will do for them?

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- anomnomnommm
  Posted on September 13, 2012 at 10:59am
  yeah! screw those lazy unemployed liberal idiots! get a job you mooching socialists! look what Obama has done to our God given country.
  
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- girlnurse
  Posted on September 13, 2012 at 4:15pm
  I for one cannot wait tell the liberal media types start losing their jobs!
  
  Report this comment
Ben__Franklin
Posted on September 13, 2012 at 9:52am
Come on guys – you dont really believe this BS. My VP Biden said in 2009 the recession was over and that we are in the summer of recovery. The only reason the jobs numbers are so bad is because all those people that are unemployed are all radical TEA Partiers and Extreme Right Republicans. They are purposefully not getting jobs to make it look like My President Obama is bad. Besides the Racist Tea Partiers also do not want to give up their food stamps. This would lower the number of people on food stamps which then they could not call My President the food stamp president.

This all started with Bush. I do not know why people cannot see that. It took Bush eight years to ruin America. It will take My President eight years to fix it. Thats why he deserves another four years. He is not done yet. His policies have not been given the proper time to work.

PS, how was my impersonation of a Lefty Liberal Loon?

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- RIGS
  Posted on September 13, 2012 at 10:01am
  GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRREAT comeback.
  
  Report this comment
- Rothbardian_in_the_Cleve
  Posted on September 13, 2012 at 11:17am
  Wango is that you?
  
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Rothbardian_in_the_Cleve
Posted on September 13, 2012 at 9:45am
PERFECT cover for ole Helicopter Ben to start firing up the printing press. Inflation for everyone!!!! Wooohooo!!!!!

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TWO BITS
Posted on September 13, 2012 at 9:40am
Fox News recently did research that indicated that the unemployment rate of government workers will be at 5.1% during a second term for Obama. That’s a sweet deal as compared to those who must rely on their own skills and work ethic.
Rather than question the qualities and values of GOP candidates, the values of voters deserve scrutiny.

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- girlnurse
  Posted on September 13, 2012 at 4:12pm
  There are no decent jobs now..so when the government workers start going down it will get very ugly! The state of California is in full swing…they are still hiring as if there is money to spare!
  
  Report this comment
Detroit paperboy
Posted on September 13, 2012 at 9:37am
The democrats will lose big in November,,,,and they know it, and they are scared to death…trust me on this one, the blacks can’t even afford to put gas in their cars, and the Reagan democrats will turn against Odumbass …….he is done…”he will not be re elected…PERIOD.

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- Rothbardian_in_the_Cleve
  Posted on September 13, 2012 at 9:49am
  Correction….America will lose in November.
  
  We know the misery of Obama. We’ve convinced ourselves the alternative is not. Balancing a budget in 28 years is not the answer. Simply changing Obamacare for Romneycare is not the answer. Growing government is not the answer. Refusal to restore 4th amendment rights lost is not the answer.
  
  Nah, we’ll pick a rapid death or a slow death. That’s the only thing that is in question.
  
  Report this comment
- Spirit 72
  Posted on September 13, 2012 at 9:51am
  Dont bank on it. Acorn is alive and well under assumed name(s)
  
  We MUST work harder for Tea Party Senators than we ever did for a President.
  
  Report this comment
Popp40
Posted on September 13, 2012 at 9:32am
And the MSM will barely mention this if at all….instead they will focus on this video that they are saying started the riots in the Middle East (although those of us who are paying attention know that these riots were not caused by that video).

If the MSM would report even 25% of the truth people would see how big of a failure this president is. Granted I still think that a lot of people will still support Obama because they themselves are failures, but seriously….are there that many failures in America that will vote for him in Nov. I would like to think there aren’t.

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contkmi
Posted on September 13, 2012 at 9:31am
Someone please explain to me: If Obama was trying to destroy the US, what would he be doing differently?

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- Rothbardian_in_the_Cleve
  Posted on September 13, 2012 at 9:47am
  http://nation.foxnews.com/paul-harvey/2012/03/21/1965-if-i-were-devil-warning-nation-paul-harvey
  
  This speech was broadcast by legendary ABC Radio commentator Paul Harvey on April 3, 1965:
  
  It is chilling. Here’s just the first paragraph…
  
  If I were the Devil . . . I mean, if I were the Prince of Darkness, I would of course, want to engulf the whole earth in darkness. I would have a third of its real estate and four-fifths of its population, but I would not be happy until I had seized the ripest apple on the tree, so I should set about however necessary to take over the United States. I would begin with a campaign of whispers. With the wisdom of a serpent, I would whisper to you as I whispered to Eve: “Do as you please.” “Do as you please.” To the young, I would whisper, “The Bible is a myth.” I would convince them that man created God instead of the other way around. I would confide that what is bad is good, and what is good is “square”. In the ears of the young marrieds, I would whisper that work is debasing, that cocktail parties are good for you. I would caution them not to be extreme in religion, in patriotism, in moral conduct. And the old, I would teach to pray. I would teach them to say after me: “Our Father, which art in Washington” . . .
  
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- contkmi
  Posted on September 13, 2012 at 10:08am
  Roth, you suggested that yesterday. I didn’t have a chance to read it, so thanks for posting it here.
  
  Good grief, that’s chilling.
  
  A few quotes from Edmund Burke:
  
  When bad men combine, the good must associate; else they will fall one by one, an unpitied sacrifice in a contemptible struggle.
  
  The true danger is when liberty is nibbled away, for expedients, and by parts.
  
  All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.
  
  Report this comment
Centralsville
Posted on September 13, 2012 at 9:21am
Obama and the Democrats couldn’t be bigger failures if they tried. Yet you see stupid liberals in the Midwest, Northeast and West Coast still favor this failure. I try to understand how anyone can be this stupid. My only explanation is their hatred of Christianity has bliinded them to the truth. They are so intent on aborting more babies, banning more large Cokes and marrying more homosexuals that they side with idiocy. You have to wonder where all those trillions of dollars the government spent went. We know the Middle Class is for the first time seeing their actual wages dropping, without taking the massive inflation into account. Must have gone in the pockets of the rich with connections to big government. I think a few billion went overseas too. Too bad we live in a country where idiot liberals can destroy everyone. Obama, the top idiot, starts out with a win in New York and California, two of our most populated states. Then throw in the Northeast, the idiots in Ohio, Pennsylvania, Minnesota, Iowa, Oregon, Washington and Illinois and you can see why it is so hard to get this moron out of office. Our failed public schools have produced a lot of idiots in the country. These people in these states aren’t smart enough to see throught the lies the media puts out every day.

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- hauschild
  Posted on September 13, 2012 at 12:05pm
  It’s not that these people are stupid, but they think near to that of Obama (I am convinced they don’t quite yet fully grasp how evil he is, or exactly what he has in store.). They really are not patriotic whatsoever – never have been. Obviously, raised by the same, but their previous generations played it closer to the vest. These people do not like this country because they are envious; like all leftists are. This is what motivates somebody that swings left.
  
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Gregb
Posted on September 13, 2012 at 9:12am
obama has this one covered… he will just spin a few more lies for the gullible and bernanke will print more dollars

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Snowleopard {gallery of cat folks}
Posted on September 13, 2012 at 9:10am
And yet the narcissist in chief who is insane says things are getting better?

Fire Obama this November.

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progressiveslayer
Posted on September 13, 2012 at 9:06am
The Marxist mulatto in chief gives new meaning to the term misery index.

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