Jobless Claims Fall To Lowest Level Since 1973
Even though Donald Trump might disagree with the, ahem, veracity of the data, the official job numbers just hit yesterday—and they're going strong.
According to the Labor Department, fewer Americans applied for unemployment benefits last week than any time since 1973, dropping 13,000 to 253,000—far below the 270,000 figure projected by economists, MarketWatch reports.
“The low level in initial claims suggest the economy is doing fairly well in April and GDP growth should bounce back after likely disappointing in the first quarter,” Moody’s Analytics director Ryan Sweet says.
According to Trump, the official employment data doesn't reflect the reality of the state of the economy. They're "statistically devised to make politicians—and in particular presidents—look good," he said earlier this month.
Nevertheless, the US economy has come a long way since the 2007-2009 downturn. Rather than looking to get rid of employees, many companies these days complain it's hard to find enough qualified people to fill all their open positions—especially in commercial real estate.
"It’s an employee’s market," Kent Elliott, principal at real estate recruiting firm RETS, recently told us, with wages 10% higher, on average, than last year.
And the scarcity of layoffs and the steady hiring rate shows the economy is actually stronger than the meager 1.4% growth in GDP would suggest. [MW]
