Weekly Jobless Claims Fall Sharply [View All]

[underpants]

14 minutes ago

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&ncid=&e=4&u=/ap/20040219/ap_on_bi_go_ec_fi/jobless_claims

WASHINGTON - The number of people filing new claims for unemployment benefits fell sharply last week, offering hope that companies may be feeling better about business conditions and less inclined to hand out pink slips.

The Labor Department (news - web sites) reported Thursday that for the work week ending Feb. 14, new applications filed for jobless benefits plunged by a seasonally adjusted 24,000 to 344,000. It marked the largest decline since the beginning of November and left claims at their lowest level since the week ending Jan. 24.

That was better than economists were expecting. They were forecasting claims to decrease to a level of around 351,000 for last week. Part of last week's decline reflected fewer layoffs in weather-sensitive businesses in some parts of the country that had been previously hard hit by winter's harsh weather, a Labor Department analyst said.

Thursday's report also showed that the number of unemployed people collecting jobless benefits for more than a week rose by 106,000 to 3.2 million for the week ending Feb. 7, the most recent period for which that information is available. This suggests that jobs are still hard to find for some workers.

Reuters headline:
Jobless Claims Drop on Better Weather

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=568&ncid=749&e=1&u=/nm/20040219/bs_nm/economy_jobless_dc