Initial Jobless Claims Decreased By 23,000; Red States Vs Blue States Data Provided

After last week's stunning number (an increase in initial claims by 32,000), today's number is reassuring that things have not gotten completely out of control.

Initial jobless claims decreased by 23,000 to 340,000. The forecast had been for a drop to 345,000.

Bloomberg is reporting:

Fewer Americans than projected filed applications for unemployment benefits last week, a sign that the job market is sustaining recent gains. 

After last week's number, I'm not sure what they really mean by "sustaining recent gains." Whatever.

Last week's "bad" number of 360,000 actually was revised a bit worse to 363,000.

The four-week moving average held almost steady, 339,500 compared to 340,000 earlier.

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Don noted this very interesting article from IBD  -- on the economy, "red" beats "blue" -- by a huge margin:

Texas outperformed every other state in the nation on jobs and growth over the past decade, according to the latest annual report on state economic performance released Thursday by the American Legislative Exchange Council. Michigan came in dead last.
The rankings are based on state GDP growth, population shifts, and changes in non-farm payroll jobs between 2001 and 2011.

The ALEC report also finds that Utah has the best economic outlook this year, and Vermont the worst.

Not surprising.