Posted on 05/30/2013 8:41:38 AM PDT by traumer
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment benefits unexpectedly rose last week, but not enough to suggest a shift in the recent pattern of modest job gains.
Initial claims for state unemployment benefits increased 10,000 to a seasonally adjusted 354,000, the Labor Department said on Thursday. Claims for the prior week were revised to show 4,000 more applications received than previously reported.
Economists polled by Reuters had expected first-time applications to hold steady at 340,000 last week.
A Labor Department analyst said claims for five states, including Virginia, Minnesota and Oregon, were estimated since state offices had less time to prepare data because of the national holiday on Monday.
This could have the distorted the readings, making last week's claims a less useful gauge of labor market trends.
The four-week moving average for new claims, which irons out week-to-week volatility, edged up 6,750 to 347,250.
Despite the rise last week, claims remained in the middle of their range for this year and below levels economists normally associate with modest job gains.
(Excerpt) Read more at finance.yahoo.com ...
Yup, everything is just peachy. Work hours are down, employment is down, income is down, taxes are up, gas is near 4 bucks a gallon even on a good day. Life in Obamerica is just a bowl of cherries.
That whole "Memorial Day" thing came as quite a shocker! I mean, who saw that coming??
All we have done in the last five years is check to see how meager the economy has moved one way or the other, or whether anything has crashed. We never expect great news from Obama’s economy.
Think about it. No one in America wakes up excited to see the growth and progress of our economy.
All we are conditioned to do is to wake up and see if the bottom has dropped out, and if it hasn't, then that's classified as good economic news.
America has become the battered spouse to Obama. He keeps beating us economically and we smile and turn aside like everything is okay.
When will someone - anyone - say ENOUGH. We DEMAND better!
Most of the News today reminds me of Little Liars.
I’m surprised they just don’t say jobless claims expected to be 760,000 and then claim the 354,000 is less than half what they expected so the economy is doing surprisingly well.
Probably ought to have Holder investigate the Labor Department.
Our finances recently started feeling ‘pinched’ so I sat down and did some quick calculations.
Insurance- an extra $1200 per year
Gas- an extra $1000 per year
Food- an extra $1000 per year
And those are conservative estimates
Well, on the bright side, inflation is almost non-existent. [/s]
We are both retired so have steady income. The only thing that has saved us is we set ourselves up for retirement. No bills other than the regular household bills. We pay cash for everything, if we can’t afford it we don’t need it mentality.
Everyone we know besides us is hurting.
Rooooters used our fav word. Pathetic.
The Roooooters wordsmiths are so clever in packaging bad news.
it’s like Christmas. sneaks up on you, then BAM!(unexpected!)
If I recall correctly, the seasonal adjustments this past January were blown all to hell, rendering the unemployment figures almost meaningless. It turns out it snowed (in January????) and the statisticians couldn’t deal with it.
I read on a earlier somewhere maybe even here on FR, five states failed to report.
Since the data is for a time period within 2013 there is no way it could not be in the 2013 range, no matter what its value is.
The new normal
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