Initial Jobless Claims in U.S. Rose 9,000 Last Week to 429,000

[marmar]

(Bloomberg) More Americans than forecast filed first-time claims for unemployment insurance payments last week, showing companies are less confident about the expansion than they were earlier this year.

Applications for jobless benefits increased 9,000 in the week ended June 18 to 429,000, Labor Department figures showed today. The level of claims exceeded the highest estimate in a Bloomberg News survey in which the median projection called for 415,000 filings. The number of people on benefit rolls was little changed, while those getting extended payments rose.

Unemployment claims have swelled after dropping to an almost three-year low at the end of February, indicating businesses may be reluctant to hire until demand strengthens. Describing job growth as “frustratingly slow,” Federal Reserve policy makers pledged yesterday to maintain monetary stimulus.

“Jobless claims remain in territory that’s not supportive of any job growth,” Derek Holt, an economist at Scotia Capital Inc. in Toronto, said before the report. “We’re going to go through the whole summer with some pretty weak job numbers before we can expect them to pick up later in the year.” .............(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-06-23/initial-jobless-claims-in-u-s-rose-9-000-last-week-to-429-000.html

[xchrom]

1. Recommend

[WatsonT]

2. The recovery is going strong!

Just look at all those statisticians it's creating to helped explain away the increases in joblessness.