Claims for jobless benefits drop in US
By Christopher S. Rugaber |
April 2, 2010, Friday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
INITIAL claims for unemployment benefits fell slightly last week as the recovering United States economy moves closer to generating more jobs.
The US Labor Department yesterday said new jobless benefit claims dropped 6,000 to a seasonally adjusted 439,000, nearly matching analysts' estimates. It's the fourth drop in five weeks.
The four-week average of claims, which smooths volatility, fell by nearly 7,000 to 447,250, the lowest total since the week of September 13, 2008, just before Lehman Brothers collapsed and the financial crisis intensified.
The report adds to evidence that the job market is slowly healing as the economy improves. Gross domestic product grew by 5.6 percent in last year's fourth quarter, the fastest pace in six years. But economists forecast growth will slow to about half that in the January-March quarter.
Many economists expect jobless claims will continue to drop and will soon fall below 425,000, a level that is likely to signal sustained job creation.
The report came a day before the department is scheduled to release the March employment report. Economists expect it will signal the economy generated 190,000 jobs last month, the most in three years and only the second gain since the recession began.
Many of those job gains will be a result of temporary government hiring to conduct the 2010 Census. Some will also represent delayed hiring from February, when massive snowstorms hit the East Coast and closed many businesses.
Still, economists expect that employers are adding jobs, even excluding those factors.
Analysts also forecast that the unemployment rate will remain at 9.7 percent for the third consecutive month, according to Thomson Reuters.
Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said yesterday in an interview broadcast on the NBC "Today" show that administration officials are "very worried" about recovering the more than 8 million jobs lost in the recession.
But he noted that business growth has been improving and predicts the economy "is going to start creating jobs again."
Geithner said the jobless rate is "still terribly high and is going to stay unacceptably high for a very long time" because of the damage caused by the recession.
The US Labor Department yesterday said new jobless benefit claims dropped 6,000 to a seasonally adjusted 439,000, nearly matching analysts' estimates. It's the fourth drop in five weeks.
The four-week average of claims, which smooths volatility, fell by nearly 7,000 to 447,250, the lowest total since the week of September 13, 2008, just before Lehman Brothers collapsed and the financial crisis intensified.
The report adds to evidence that the job market is slowly healing as the economy improves. Gross domestic product grew by 5.6 percent in last year's fourth quarter, the fastest pace in six years. But economists forecast growth will slow to about half that in the January-March quarter.
Many economists expect jobless claims will continue to drop and will soon fall below 425,000, a level that is likely to signal sustained job creation.
The report came a day before the department is scheduled to release the March employment report. Economists expect it will signal the economy generated 190,000 jobs last month, the most in three years and only the second gain since the recession began.
Many of those job gains will be a result of temporary government hiring to conduct the 2010 Census. Some will also represent delayed hiring from February, when massive snowstorms hit the East Coast and closed many businesses.
Still, economists expect that employers are adding jobs, even excluding those factors.
Analysts also forecast that the unemployment rate will remain at 9.7 percent for the third consecutive month, according to Thomson Reuters.
Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said yesterday in an interview broadcast on the NBC "Today" show that administration officials are "very worried" about recovering the more than 8 million jobs lost in the recession.
But he noted that business growth has been improving and predicts the economy "is going to start creating jobs again."
Geithner said the jobless rate is "still terribly high and is going to stay unacceptably high for a very long time" because of the damage caused by the recession.
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