unemployment claims

Continuing unemployment claims decline for 1st time in months

There is an important nugget of information in today's BLS report of weekly new jobless claims.

The weekly claims themselves are stagnating at about 625,000. But the important nugget is about continuing claims which for the first time in months have not increased, but instead declined slightly to 6.73 million.

Unemployment Claims to 9/11 levels

Ah a new record which surely will keep breaking, Unemployment claims jump to 516,000 and what is significant is that equals the September 11th jump in jobless claims.

The Labor Department on Thursday reported that jobless claims last week increased by 32,000 to a seasonally adjusted 516,000. That nearly matched the 517,000 claims reported seven years ago, and is only the second time since 1992 that claims have topped 500,000.

The total also was much higher than analysts expected. Wall Street economists surveyed by Thomson Reuters expected claims to increase only slightly to 484,000. Initial claims from two weeks ago were revised upward Thursday by 3,000 to 484,000.

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