Thursday, October 14, 2010

Initial Claims Slightly Higher



From Bloomberg:

After improving five of the last six weeks, initial jobless claims rose 13,000 in the October 9 week to a higher-than-expected 462,000 (prior week revised 4,000 higher to 449,000). The Labor Department had to use estimates for five states due to administrative delays tied to this week's Columbus Day. The four-week average, up 2,250 to 459,000, ended six straight weeks of improvement.


Here is the relevant chart:



Claims have been going sideways for the better part of the year. This is a huge issue, as it indicates just enough people are getting laid off to continually feed the unemployed. It is important to remember the previous tow recoveries had similar issues -- not that it makes it any easier.

1 comments:

Anonymous said...

I'm a little concerned because funding for a TANF program ended on Sept 30th. Apparently, the program created over 100k jobs. Shockingly, the Senate didnt act to extend the program before it recessed. I wonder if that means we will see a temporary spike in unemployment claims this month, similar to what we saw in August.