According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor statistics, the number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment insurance dropped last week to the lowest level since February 2008, which was months prior to the Great Recession.

The drop in people claiming unemployment with their state government is another modestly encouraging sign of economic recovery. Last week, the unemployment rate dropped to 7.8 percent from 8.1 percent due in large part to the creation of 114,000 jobs. And statistics released two weeks ago showed that, contrary to past figures, President Barack Obama has presided over a net job creation since becoming president in January of 2009.