Ahhh .. before you start popping the corks on the champagne ...
The number of people requesting first-time unemployment benefits dropped slightly last week,
but remained near a 26-year high as companies lay off thousands of workers amid a deepening recession.
WASHINGTON — Nearly 5 million Americans continued to draw jobless benefits late last month, and new requests again exceeded 600,00 as companies lay off scores of workers amid a deepening recession.
The Labor Department said Thursday that the number of initial jobless benefit claims dropped to a seasonally-adjusted 623,000, from an upwardly revised figure of 631,000 the previous week. The latest tally still was above analysts' expectations of 610,000 claims.
And in a sign that laid-off workers are having difficulty finding new work, the number of people claiming benefits for more than one week rose to 4.81 million from 4.78 million, the highest total since records began in 1967. The continuing claims data lag new claims by a week.
An additional 1.5 million people are receiving benefits under an extended unemployment compensation program approved by Congress last year, bringing the total number of recipients to 6.3 million.
Continuing claims are up sharply from a year ago, when the figure was 2.7 million.
In
slightly better economic news, the Commerce Department reported Thursday that retail sales jumped
1 percent in January, reversing six months of decline and defying expectations of a 0.8 percent drop.
The rise in sales follows a 2.7 percent plunge in December, which marked the weakest holiday selling season since at least 1969.
The 631,000 new jobless claims filed two weeks ago was the highest tally since October 1982, when the economy was emerging from a steep recession, though the labor force has grown by about half since then.
---
Companies from a range of sectors are hemorrhaging jobs as the recession worsens. Consumers have cut back on their spending in response to declining home values and plummeting stock portfolios, and businesses also are tightening their belts.
On Wednesday, Boston-based money manager Putnam Investments said it would cut 260 jobs, or about 10 percent of its work force.
A day earlier, General Motors said it would cut 10,000 salaried jobs, or 14 percent of its white-collar employees. FedEx Corp. said Monday it is eliminating 900 positions.
Among the states, California saw the biggest increase in jobless claims, a jump of 20,000 that it attributed to layoffs in construction and service industries. The next largest increases were in: North Carolina, with 8,663; Ohio, with 4,738; Georgia's 4,392; and Kansas, with 3,232.
more at link --
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/02/12/new-jobless-claims-drop-s_n_166320.html
Everybody is quick to take credit for improvement no matter how miniscule .. but nobody wants to take the blame for continued depression.
Since the "market" wants to take credit for miniscule improvements .. shouldn't it also take the blame?
How about Obambi? Are you sure you want to assign him credit for this?
)
