What was that GOP talking point about the Democrats being so bad for the economy? Wrong again. It's not going to improve overnight but it's steadily improving. Working off the problems of Republican economics will take more time and maybe even another stimulus round. Let's see where we are at the end of the first quarter.
The Labor Department said Thursday that new claims for unemployment insurance fell by 22,000 to a seasonally adjusted 432,000, the lowest since July 2008. That's much better than the rise to 460,000 that Wall Street economists expected.
The four-week average, which smooths fluctuations, fell for the 17th straight week to 460,250, the lowest since September 2008, when the financial crisis intensified. The crisis led to widespread mass layoffs, which sent jobless claims to as high as 674,000 last spring.
