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New claims for US unemployment benefits fell last week for the third week in a row, signaling continuing improvement in the troubled jobs market, Labor Department data released Thursday showed. Jobless claims, an indicator of the pace of layoffs across the country, totaled 332,000 in the week ending March 9, a drop of 10,000 from the prior week's revised number, the department said. Last week's reading was the lowest since January 19, when jobless claims hit a five-year low. The decline surprised analysts who on average expected claims to rise to 350,000

<p>WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) - The number of people who applied for new U.S. unemployment benefits fell by 7,000 to 340,000 in the week ended March 3, suggesting further improvement in the U.S. labor market.</p> <p>It was the third lowest number of initial claims in five years, according to Labor Department data. Economists surveyed by MarketWatch had expected claims to rise to a seasonally adjusted 353,000 from a revised 347,000 in the prior week.</p>

According to the Labour Department, the Americans that filed in their first initial claims for regular state unemployment-insurance benefits rose by 4K last week to a seasonally adjusted 371K in the week ended January 5, above expectations at 365K and coming from 367K (revised) in the previous print. Continuing claims, which reflect people already receiving benefits, fell by 127K to a seasonally adjusted 3.109 million in the week ended December 29 vs. 3.236 million in the previous week (revised).

The number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment aid fell last week to nearly its lowest level in 4 1/2 years, a sign that the labor market is healing. Initial claims for state unemployment benefits dropped 12,000 to a seasonally adjusted 350,000, the Labor Department said on Thursday. The prior week's figure was revised to show 1,000 more applications than previously reported. After spiking in the wake of Superstorm Sandy, which ravaged the East Coast in late October, the weekly levels of new claims have now dropped to their lowest levels since the early days of the 2007-09 recession....

<p>First-time claims for unemployment benefits climbed 17,000 in the latest week, though to a level that suggests the U.S. labor market is continuing its steady but painfully slow improvement.</p> <p>The Labor Department said Thursday that first-time jobless claims rose to a seasonally adjusted 361,000 in the week ended Dec. 15, versus a slightly upwardly revised 344,000 in the prior week. That’s almost exactly in line with the MarketWatch-compiled economist consensus of 360,000.</p>

The number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment benefits fell for a fourth straight week last week, pointing to steady healing in the labor market. Initial claims for state unemployment benefits dropped 29,000 to a seasonally adjusted 343,000, the Labor Department said on Thursday. The prior week's figure was revised to show 2,000 more applications than previously reported. Last week's drop left new claims at their lowest since the week of October 6, and well below the levels just before superstorm Sandy, which slammed into the East Coast in late October and triggered several weeks of volatile claims numbers.

The unemployment rate for civilian government workers plunged from 4.2 percent in October to 3.8 percent in November, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, as government added 35,000 to its taxpayer-funded payrolls during the month. In October, federal, state and local governments in the United States employed 20,524,000 people. In November, that climbed to 20,559,000. As recently as July, the unemployment rate for government workers was as high as 5.7 percent, according to the BLS. That month, government employed only 20,015,000. Since July, times have been very good for government in the United States, with governments managing to add...

Obama partisans are hailing the "surprising" fall in unemployment as a sign that a recovery is showing strength. But the official metric for unemployment, U-3, counts only people actively looking for jobs, and that is the figure which has declined to 7.7%. Neil Irwin in the Washington Post explains: The jobless rate dropped in large part because the labor force fell by 350,000, suggesting that people gave up looking for work. The number of people saying they had a job actually fell by 122,000. And the Labor Department revised downward its estimates of job creation in September and October by...

According to the Labor Department, the americans that filed in their first initial claims for regular state unemployment-insurance benefits fell by 17K last week to a seasonally adjusted 393K in the week ended November 24, above expectations at 390K and coming from 410K (revised) in the previous print. Continuing claims, which reflect people already receiving benefits, fell by 50K to a seasonally adjusted 3.2878 million in the week ended November 17 vs. 3.337 million in the previous week (revised).

<p>WASHINGTON--The number of U.S. workers filing applications for jobless benefits fell last week, suggesting that the labor market continues to slowly improve.</p> <p>Initial jobless claims--a measure of layoffs--dropped by 23,000 to a seasonally adjusted 369,000 in the week ended Oct. 20, the Labor Department said Thursday. Economists surveyed by Dow Jones Newswires had forecast 365,000 new applications for jobless benefits.</p>

Last Thursday morning, the headlines on National Public Radio were jubilant. "Jobless Claims Drop To Lowest Level In More Than Four Years," they crowed. NPR's anchors repeated the news in their hourly and half-hourly updates. The sudden, seasonally-adjusted drop--from 369,000 to 339,000 new claims--was touted by NPR and the rest of the mainstream media as timely evidence of economic recovery under President Barack Obama. This week, jobless claims have soared to 388,000--a four-month high. NPR explained, correctly, that both changes were largely the result of the fact that California failed to process all of its jobless claims last week and...

It's funny what happens to a data series when consistency returns to its collection. Last week’s weekly jobless claims numbers dropped dramatically to nearly a four-year low, but later it was discovered that one large state didn't report all of its claims properly. This week, the level returns to the same range we've seen since the spring of 2011: In the week ending October 13, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 388,000, an increase of 46,000 from the previous week's revised figure of 342,000. The 4-week moving average was 365,500, an increase of 750 from the previous...

For the second time in a week, a government unemployment report is sowing confusion - and may not be as positive as the markets think.

UPDATE: Henry Blodget at Business Insider reports that a "source, who is an analyst at the Department of Labor," has told him that "the number of California claims that were not processed totalled about 15,000-25,000."

The number of applicants for unemployment benefits bounced higher last week, data showed Thursday, underscoring the slow pace of job creation in the United States. Initial jobless claims climbed to a seasonally adjusted 367,000 in the seven days ended Sept. 29, compared to an upwardly 363,000 in the prior week, the Labor Department said. Economists surveyed by MarketWatch had forecast claims to rise to 370,000. The average of new claims over the past month was unchanged at 375,000. The four-week figure smooths out volatility in the weekly number and paints a more accurate picture of labor-market trends. On Wall Street,...

The number of Americans filing new claims for jobless benefits fell last week to the lowest level in two months, a hopeful sign for a labor market that has struggled to gain traction in recent months. Initial claims for state unemployment benefits dropped 26,000 to a seasonally adjusted 359,000, the lowest level since July, the Labor Department said on Thursday. The prior week's figure was revised up to show 3,000 more applications than previously reported. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast claims falling to 378,000 last week. The four-week moving average for new claims, a better measure of labor market...

U.S. manufacturing closed out its weakest quarter in three years this month and the number of Americans filing new claims for jobless benefits held near two-month highs last week, suggesting the economic recovery is failing to gain traction. Financial information firm Markit said its U.S. “flash”, or preliminary, manufacturing Purchasing Managers Index stood at 51.5 in September, unchanged from August. A reading above 50 indicates expansion. The index averaged 51.5 in the third quarter, below the 54.2 registered between April and June, for its worst showing since the third quarter of 2009. At 51.2, the output component was the lowest...

How much of an effect do high gasoline prices have upon the rate of layoffs in the U.S. economy? Today, following the initial confirmation of our hypothesis that they do have a significant effect as measured by the number of new jobless claims filed every week, we're going to attempt to quantify how big an impact that high gasoline prices has upon the employee retention decisions of U.S. employers. We define "high gasoline prices" as being when the national average price of a gallon of regular unleaded gasoline in the United States rises above $3.50 per gallon, in terms...

The number of people filing first-time clams for unemployment insurance rose by 8,000 last week, to 365,000 from 357,000 the week before, the Employment and Training Administration says. It adds that the "4-week moving average," which is supposed to give a slightly broader look at the trend in claims, "was 365,500, a decrease of 2,750 from the previous week's revised average of 368,250." But according to The Associated Press: "Economists are viewing last month's figures with some caution because the government struggles every July to account for temporary summer shutdowns in the auto industry. This year, some automakers skipped shutdowns,...

<p>WASHINGTON (AP) - The number of Americans applying for unemployment benefits dropped by 35,000 last week, a figure that may have been distorted by seasonal factors.</p> <p>The Labor Department said Thursday that applications fell to a seasonally adjusted 353,000. That's down from a revised 388,000 the previous week and the biggest drop since February 2010.</p>