Unemployment Claims In US Fall To 8-Year-Low

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http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/10/us-u ... -improves/

I wonder how many claimants simply gave up applying for assistance or have already exhausted their benefits and are no longer eligible.

I wonder how many Conservatives who do everything they possibly can to make it impossible to receive unemployment benefits will use your question as a way to attack the credibility of the report? Probably the same Conservatives who denied funding requests to strengthen security for Benghazi and then blamed Liberals for not protecting the embassy..

The number of persons counted as "unemployed" decreased by 0.2 of a percentage point ? 1.3 percentage points for the year. The civilian labor force participation rate holds steady at 62.7%. This is nothing to celebrate. It indicates an economy in stagnation.

http://www.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.nr0.htm

Beats me (I amn't conservative or liberal), but in Mexico, unemployment benefits https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unemploym ... its#Mexico "are available to people living in the capital Mexico City for up to 6 months. If a citizen resides elsewhere then all he/she must do is move to Mexico City and get a job for six months to qualify and be an employee." Imagine the conservatives in the United States requiring the migration of all unemployed U.S. workers to Washington, D.C., to even be eligible for the same workers' benefits that they get now.

Unemployment benefits in Canada https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unemploym ... its#Canada aren't much better than the U.S. or Mexican benefits. In Canada, "one had to work for 10 weeks to get benefits for the other 42 weeks of the year[,]" but, "[t]he generosity of the Canadian UI programme was progressively reduced after the adoption of the 1971 UI Act. At the same time, the federal government gradually reduced its financial contribution, eliminating it entirely by 1990. The EI system was again cut by the Progressive Conservatives in 1990 and 1993, then by the Liberals in 1994 and 1996. Amendments made it harder to qualify by increasing the time needed to be worked, although seasonal claimants (who work long hours over short periods) turned out to gain from the replacement, in 1996, of weeks by hours to qualify. The ratio of beneficiaries to unemployed, after having stood at around 40 percent for many years, rose somewhat during the 2009 recession but then fell back again to the low 40s."

It seems that the U.S. unemployment benefits are pretty much in line with what our international neighbors (both conservative and liberal influences), provide to their workers.

Labor participation has been falling and underemployment has been rising, people that haven't looked for a job in the last month don't cease being unemployed or cease to exist.

Very true. But, the U.S. federal government no longer counts people who are actively looking for work, but: 1) have enough savings to avoid applying for unemployment benefits, or 2) have exhausted their six months of benefits.