Jobless Claims Surge in Latest Week
- From: 浪人 ronin <Kotyto@xxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Thu, 3 Apr 2008 05:57:29 -0700 (PDT)
Jobless Claims Surge in Latest Week
By JEFF BATER
April 3, 2008 8:34 a.m.
WASHINGTON -- The number of idled U.S. workers filing new claims for
unemployment benefits surged last week, rising to its highest level in
more than two years, a government report said Thursday.
Initial claims for jobless benefits increased by 38,000 to 407,000,
after seasonal adjustments, in the week that ended Mar. 29, the Labor
Department said.
The four-week average of new claims last week increased by 15,750 to
374,500 from 358,750.
The number of new jobless claims filed nationwide wasn't in line with
what Wall Street had expected. Economists surveyed by Dow Jones
Newswires forecast a climb of 4,000 new claims for the week ending
Saturday. The last time claims were so high was the week of Sept. 17,
2005, at 425,000.
The data are adjusted for seasonal factors, including holidays. A
Labor Department analyst said difficulties in making adjustments
relating to Easter might have affected the outsized increase last
week.
Still, the crossing of the 400,000-claim mark is worrisome. The Labor
Department reports non-farm payroll numbers for March on Friday.
Analysts are expecting a decline in payroll jobs. A loss of jobs would
be the third in as many months. A sluggish job market can hurt
consumer spending, a big engine of the economy. Since last summer,
economic growth has slowed sharply. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben
Bernanke on Wednesday publicly raised the prospect of a U.S. recession
for the first time since the slowdown began.
New jobless claims for the week ending Mar. 22 were revised upward to
369,000. Originally, claims for that week were reported at a
seasonally adjusted 366,000.
The Labor Department report Thursday included the total number of
workers drawing unemployment benefits in the week that ended Mar. 22,
the latest period for which that particular data are available. The
number -- known as continuing claims -- rose by 97,000 to 2,937,000.
The unemployment rate for workers with unemployment insurance climbed
to 2.2% from 2.1%.
On an unadjusted basis, Pennsylvania reported the biggest increase in
new claims the week of Mar. 22, at 2,904; there were layoffs in the
electrical equipment, public administration, food, and transportation
industries. Michigan had the biggest decrease, at 7,660; there were
fewer automobile industry layoffs.
.
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