Things Are Getting Better {05.01.15 edition-Jobless Claims}

Yesterday we received some very positive economic news regarding the job market.  Here from Bloomberg News is their review of the numbers.  Go read, "Jobless Claims in US Decrease to Lowest Levels in Fifteen Years."  Here is my synopsis of the article {My emphasis}:

First-time filings for unemployment insurance fell by 34,000 to 262,000 in the week ended April 25, the lowest since April 15, 2000, a Labor Department report showed Thursday in Washington. 

With job openings at a 14-year high and prospects for stronger growth after the first-quarter setback, companies are intent on maintaining headcounts. The level of firings is consistent the Federal Reserve’s view of sustained progress in the job market.

The four-week average of claims, a less-volatile measure than the weekly figure, declined to 283,750 from 285,000 in the prior week.

The number of people continuing to receive jobless benefits dropped by 74,000 to 2.25 million in the week ended April 18, the lowest level since December 2000. The unemployment rate among people eligible for benefits held at 1.7 percent. These data are reported with a one-week lag.

Claims since the beginning of March have held below the 300,000 level that economists say is consistent with an improving labor market.

The number of available positions at employers portends stronger hiring. Job openings climbed to 5.13 million in February, the most since January 2001, Labor Department data showed earlier this month. There are about 1.7 unemployed Americans per opening, matching the lowest level since November 2007.

The broader economy took a hit in the first quarter, as the stronger dollar combined with more transitory effects of bad winter weather and a labor dispute at West Coast ports to weigh on growth.  Gross domestic product, the volume of all goods and services produced, rose at a 0.2 percent annualized rate in the first three months of the year after advancing 2.2 percent the prior quarter, 

Fed officials said Wednesday after a policy meeting that the economy weakened partly for reasons that will be short-lived. “Economic growth slowed during the winter months, in part reflecting transitory factors,” the Federal Open Market Committee said in a statement. “The pace of job gains moderated,” it said, and “underutilization of labor resources was little changed.”