It looks like the economic outlook for 2012 may be better than the last couple of years have been. Some of the good news that was released in the last couple of weeks includes:

• A lower number of people were seeking unemployment benefits. According to data released by the Labor Department on Thursday, the numbers are near the lowest in the last four years, with only 352,000 applications.
• A drop in the  four-week average, of numbers of people seeking unemployment insurance.
• The amount of manufacturing jobs in the Northeast have gone up significantly, according to survey’s that have been put out by the Federal Reserve banks of New York and Philadelphia. This is part of a larger, but less pronounced change all over the nation in December of this year.
• The recent rapid rise in inflation seems to have peaked, at least for the time being.

This is not the first time that we have heard good news for the New Year. If you happen to have missed some of our earlier coverage of the good news here is an excerpt:

“The inflation rate has remained relatively low, which means that the cost of the basic items needed for living have remained relatively steady. That is good news if you want to be able to eat in the near (or the long-term) future. It is also good news for the interest rates on major purchases, including the home loans.  In addition for the first time in three years the home market is also on the uptick, which means that there is some hope for the long term.  There is even some good news in lending. The banks are lending more than they have been in the last couple of years.

While this news is good, on the whole, many economic professionals are still warning people to say that the economy is completely on the road to recovery, as there are a number of major hurdles that still need to be overcome in order for us to get to a stable place. The first thing that we need to do is take care of the unemployment rate. The rate is currently at about 8.5 percent, which leaves millions of Americans out of work, and this number does not also take into account the fact that a certain number of people have simply stopped looking for work completely.”

Of course, the recent news has not been all good, as many people have been affected by seasonal layoffs this month. If you did not catch our seasonal layoffs, here is an excerpt from our earlier coverage:

“Once again we have news that puts us into the good news, bad news situation when it comes to unemployment. The bad news is that there was an uptick this week in the number of people who were filing for unemployment insurance benefits. That means more people are out of a job.

The good news is that these jobs that were cut primarily were seasonal retail hires. As anyone who has worked in retail over the holidays can tell you droves of employees are brought on, with a temporary status, to help employers get through the busy season. So these people who are at out of work at least knew that their positions would be gone after the holiday rush.

The number of applications rose to the highest numbers in the previous six weeks. The actual raise was by about 24,000 applications, which brings the seasonally adjusted number to 399,000 applications according to the U.S. Department of Labor.”