Unemployment claims, measured as new claims filed across the country in a week, have fallen again, marking another sign of economic progress with the Biden administration in charge.
According to data released by the Labor Department, the week ending January 21 saw a seasonally adjusted total of new unemployment claims at just 186,000, which is obviously way below what the U.S. saw during various portions of the COVID-19 pandemic’s most pronounced economic unrest. It’s also below the totals now reported for the two earlier weeks in January, ending the 14th and 7th, and it’s additionally below the total seen in the same week of January last year, which was 222,000. The totals seen without any seasonal adjustment were also down, reaching 224,481 in the week ending January 21, lower than the totals in the first two weeks of the year and in the third week of January in 2022.
That data emerged this past Thursday, the day before another round of data that this time came from the Commerce Department showing a decreasing rate of inflation in December. In comparisons to both the preceding month — in this case, November 2022 — and the same month in the prior year, the rate of increase in prices dropped. The data, taken from that department’s Personal Consumption Expenditures report, also showed personal income in current dollars slightly outpacing inflation in December. The overall rate of price increases from the preceding month was 0.1 percent — and the overall rate of change in personal income was a jump of 0.2 percent. In current dollars, a category called disposable personal income increased by 0.3 percent from November.
The Bureau of Economic Analysis, which is the team at the Commerce Department responsible for the numbers, noted the increase in compensation weighing on the reported jump in personal income levels reflected growth in both goods and services. The idea from Trump or another figure in the GOP that Biden and his policies are somehow wrecking the economy and nation is just objectively ridiculous, full-stop. What are Republicans going to run on in 2024? Investigating Hunter Biden? How many Americans actually care about the GOP fairy tales about the Biden family and Democrats? They’re about to find out — again — that it’s fewer than they might hope.
