Jobless Claims; Fastest Growing County In The Entire United States: Williams County, ND; Stark County, #4

More on this later. Bloomberg is reporting:

Applications for U.S. unemployment benefits unexpectedly declined last week to an almost four-month low, a sign companies are confident in the outlook for demand.

Jobless claims decreased by 10,000 to 311,000 in the period ended March 22, Labor Department data showed today in Washington. The median forecast of 49 economists surveyed by Bloomberg called for 323,000 claims. The four-week average of applications filed with state agencies dropped to the lowest level since September.

This is very, very interesting. First, this certainly takes the wind out of the sails of those pushing to extend unemployment benefits for the long-term unemployed. The poll asked whether benefits should be extended for long-term unemployed; readers responded:

• yes: 15%
• no: 85%

The second reason this story is very, very interesting is it begs the question, why did first time claims drop so precipitously. The weather has gotten better. Perhaps. Certainly there is nothing in the economy that suggests things have all of a sudden got so much better one week to the next. The only thing that has changed, starting about a month ago, was the fact that benefits for the long-termed unemployed were starting to come to an end. All things being equal, one should see unemployment numbers continue to improve.

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Why, Devil Doll

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Meanwhile, the Associated Press, is catching up with the energy news, also. The Bismarck Tribune is reporting:

America's energy boom is fueling population growth west of the Mississippi River.
New 2013 census information released Thursday shows that 6 of the 10 fastest-growing metropolitan areas and 8 of the 10 fastest-growing counties in the country are located in or near the oil- and gas-rich fields of the Great Plains and Mountain West.

More and more oil and gas drilling is being done in those regions, drawing people from around the nation looking for work, the Census Bureau said.

Neighboring cities Odessa and Midland, Texas, show up as the second and third fastest-growing metro areas in the country. Sara Higgins, the Midland public information officer, has a one-word explanation: oil.

While energy exploration is drawing people to the Great Plains and Mountain West, Florida is still the one of the top destinations in the country, as it shows up again and again in census data for population growth. The fastest-growing metro area in the country is the retirement community The Villages, boasting a 5.2 percent increase in population between 2012 and 2013. Its surrounding county, Sumter County, also shows up as one of the fastest-growing counties in the country with a 5.2 percent increase during the time period.

Following The Villages, Odessa and Midland were Fargo, ND/MN. (3.1 percent); Bismarck, ND (3.1 percent); Casper, WY (2.9 percent); Myrtle Beach-Conway-North Myrtle Beach, SC/NC (2.7 percent); Austin-Round Rock, TX (2.6 percent); Daphne-Fairhope-Foley, AL (2.6 percent); and Cape Coral-Fort Myers, FL  (2.5 percent).

The fastest-growing counties were Williams County, ND (10.7 percent increase from 2013); Duchesne County, UT (5.5 percent increase); Sumter County, FL (5.2 percent); Stark County, ND (5.0 percent); Kendall County, TX (5.0 percent); St. Bernard Parish, LA (4.6 percent); Wasatch County, UT (4.4 percent); Meade County, SD (4.3 percent); Fort Bend County, TX (4.2 percent) and Hays County, TX (4.1 percent).

I assume much of the growth in the retirement community in Florida is due to all those energy millionaires. LOL -- actually, I think the energy millionaires retire to Phoenix. 

[Later: The Rapid City Journal has a similar story, highlighting Sturgis, Meade County.]