The DOL reports on weekly unemployment insurance claims:
In the week ending July 10, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 429,000, a decrease of 29,000 from the previous week's revised figure of 458,000. The 4-week moving average was 455,250, a decrease of 11,750 from the previous week's revised average of 467,000.
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The advance number for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment during the week ending July 3 was 4,681,000, an increase of 247,000 from the preceding week's revised level of 4,434,000.Click on graph for larger image in new window. This graph shows the 4-week moving average of weekly claims since January 2000.The four-week average of weekly unemployment claims decreased this week by 11,750 to 455,250.The dashed line on the graph is the current 4-week average. This is an improvement, and this is the lowest level for initial weekly claims since July 2008. The 4-week average of initial weekly claims has been at about the same level since December 2009 and the 4-week average of 455,250 is still high historically, and suggests a weak labor market.
Fewer Americans than projected filed applications for unemployment benefits last week, reflecting a smaller number of factory closings for this time of year.
Initial jobless claims dropped by 29,000 to 429,000 in the week ended July 10, the fewest since August 2008, Labor Department figures showed today in Washington. The government anticipates an increase in temporary factory layoffs in early July that did not occur this year, leading to the decrease in applications, a Labor Department spokesman said.
“The key story here is the extreme uncertainty over the near-term path of claims as a result of the annual retooling shutdowns, which throw the seasonal adjustments into chaos,” Ian Shepherdson, chief U.S. economist at High Frequency Economics LLC in Valhalla, New York, said before the report. Shepherdson projected claims would drop to 420,000.
It may take another week or two before the claims figures reflect the true underlying trend, the Labor Department spokesman said. Other employment data signal the job market will take time to pick up, restraining consumer spending, the biggest part of the economy.
“The labor market is still improving, but at a slower rate than desired,” said Russell Price, a senior economist at Ameriprise Financial Inc. in Detroit. “Companies are still cautious about hiring at this point because there are still some lingering concerns about the strength of the economy in the second half of this year.
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