Posted on 07/14/2005 12:04:40 PM PDT by Willie Green
For education and discussion only. Not for commercial use.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The number of Americans filing new claims for jobless benefits rose a sharper-than-expected 16,000 last week, reflecting temporary layoffs in the factory and service sectors, the Labor Department said on Thursday.
First-time claims for state unemployment insurance benefits rose to 336,000 in the week ended July 9, their highest point since late May, from a revised 320,000 in the prior week, the department said.
Wall Street economists had expected initial claims to rise to just 325,000 from the original reading of 319,000 in the week ended July 2.
A Labor Department analyst said the rise in claims was due to temporary layoffs at carmakers and other manufacturers, as well as seasonal layoffs in the service sector, including school-related jobs.
Analysts say it could be several weeks before the claims data provide a clean read on the health of the job market, largely because summer layoffs at automakers as they ready plants for a new model year often skew the data.
A four-week moving average of claims, which smooths weekly volatility to provide a better sense of the pace of layoffs, rose 250 to 320,750.
A third job-market barometer, the number of unemployed who continued to claim benefits after an initial week of aid, rose 45,000 to 2.62 million in the week ended July 2, the latest for which figures are available.
Willie Willie bo Billie! Banana fanna fo Fillie! Fe fi mo Millie! WILLIE!
Up 250! The world is gonna end! Damn you President Bush!
AHA, the preacher of doom and gloom.
Live Better, Work Union.
I want to be a Wall Street analyst. Just about everything that happens is not what they expected. They're even more clueless than the weather forecasters.
A Labor Department analyst said the rise in claims was due to temporary layoffs at carmakers and other manufacturers, as well as seasonal layoffs in the service sector, including school-related jobs.
Analysts say it could be several weeks before the claims data provide a clean read on the health of the job market, largely because summer layoffs at automakers as they ready plants for a new model year often skew the data.
In otherwords auto workers are considered "unemployed" while they are really on vacation while the plants change over to the next year's model? Thanks UAW!
"...layoffs in the factory and service sectors..."
Certainly not among government "workers."
Stocks would be at 15,000 if good news made them go up - cause we've had four years of good news since 911 and still all you hear is gloom.
Willie, haven't you heard of seasonality? Its slow for us in the cargo business right now for the same reason. Come the fall things should be up over next year.
Well if this data is "seasonally adjusted", then that would mean that this season is actually worse than what they adjust for.
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