More Americans Than Projected Filed Jobless Claims Last Week

[marmar]

(Bloomberg) More Americans than forecast filed applications for unemployment benefits last week, a sign that the labor market is taking time to improve.

Jobless claims fell by 1,000 to 388,000 in the week ended April 21 from a revised 389,000 the prior period that was the highest since early January, Labor Department figures showed today in Washington. The median forecast of 48 economists surveyed by Bloomberg News called for a drop to 375,000.

Fewer layoffs are needed to lay the groundwork for more hiring, which in turn should support consumer spending, the biggest part of the economy. Federal Reserve policy makers yesterday said that while labor-market conditions have improved, the unemployment rate “remains elevated,” helping explain why they stuck to a plan to hold borrowing costs close to zero through 2014.

“It’s just so hard for companies to be confident and start hiring,” said Yelena Shulyatyeva, a U.S. economist at BNP Paribas in New York, who correctly projected the level of jobless claims. “We believe that March is probably not the end of the modest readings on payrolls.” ....................(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-04-26/more-americans-than-projected-filed-jobless-claims-last-week.html

[xchrom]

1. Du rec. Nt

[WI_DEM]

2. Dropped by a thousand over a week ago--good news!

[marmar]

3. But last week's figure was revised up by 3,000.......

....... I guess "good news" is relative.

[stopbush]

4. In the meanwhile, 93,000 Californians will lose their extended unemployment benefits next month,

because even though the unemployment rate in CA is 11%, it is only 108% of the rate one year ago, and to qualify for emergency Federal unemployment assistance, a state's unemployment rate has to be 110% of what it was a year ago.

Those 93,000 unemployed represent over $150MM a month in Fed benefits (ie 93,000 people @ $1800 a month in benefits = $167MM a month). That's over $150MM a month that has just been taken out of the CA consumer economy.