Free Republic

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."

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The pace of U.S. worker productivity growth slowed at the end of 2004 and claims for jobless aid dipped last week, according to reports raising both job-growth hopes and inflation concerns. Separate reports on Thursday tempered the optimism as growth in the huge U.S. services sector cooled a bit last month while factory orders rose a mere 0.3 percent in December. Nonfarm business productivity, or worker output per hour, grew at an annual rate of just 0.8 percent in the fourth quarter, falling from the third quarter's 1.8 percent rate and the smallest advance since a drop...

Biggest Drop In Unemployment Claims Since December 2001.  "Far fewer Americans than expected applied for first-time unemployment benefits last week as the effects of Hurricane Charley faded, the Labor Department reported Thursday. ...  Initial claims for unemployment benefits dropped 44,000, to 319,000, in the week ended Saturday from a revised 363,000 the week before. It was the steepest weekly decline since a plunge of 77,000 in December 2001, three months after the terrorist attacks."  ("Jobless Claims Drop," Reuters, 9/10/04)More Evidence Inflation Is Under Control. "U.S. producer prices unexpectedly declined last month, reflecting cheaper cars, computers and gasoline, a government...

<p>May 6 (Bloomberg) -- The number of Americans filing initial claims for jobless benefits dropped to 315,000 last week, the fewest since October 2000, a government report showed.</p> <p>Initial applications fell by 25,000 in the week that ended Saturday from 340,000, the Labor Department said in Washington. The number of people continuing to collect state jobless benefits declined to 2.935 million in the week that ended April 24, the lowest since June 2001. The statistics are reported with a one- week lag to initial claims.</p>