Big Jump In Jobless Claims

Largest Weekly Increase In Number Of New Jobless Claims In 9 Months

(AP)  The number of newly laid off workers filing claims for unemployment benefits shot up by the largest amount since early February, a far bigger increase than had been expected.

The Labor Department reported Thursday that applications for jobless benefits hit 337,000 last week, an increase of 28,000 from the previous week. That was the biggest one-week surge since jobless claims jumped 42,000 the week of Feb. 10.

The increase was four times larger than the gain of 6,000 that economists had been expecting and could be a sign that the labor market is starting to weaken under the impact of a severe downturn in housing and the credit crisis that jolted financial markets in August.

The 337,000 total claims for the week was the highest level since a similar number of claims were filed on Aug. 25. Government analysts said that part of last week's big rise probably reflected trouble in adjusting the numbers for normal seasonal changes at the start of a new quarter, a time when claims often spike.

The four-week average for claims edged up to 316,500. While that was the highest-level in four weeks, it still remained within the narrow range between 300,000 and 340,000 where it has been for the past year.

"The labor market is weakening, but it remains to be seen if this week's reading is just a one-week occurrence or the start of a new trend," said Andrew Gledhill, an economist with Moody's Economy.com. He said a significant rise in jobless claims above 350,000 would be a strong sign that the labor market was weakening significantly.

Analysts have been expecting jobless claims to start posting increases, reflecting the economic blows that have occurred from the steepest housing slump in 16 years and a severe credit crunch.

For the week ending Oct. 6, 45 states and territories saw claims increase while eight reported declines. The biggest increases occurred in California, up by 6,317, and Georgia, up by 3,255.

Earlier this week, both Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke warned that the housing crisis was likely to last longer than had been expected.

Construction of new homes and apartments plunged to a 14-year low in September while the National Association of Home Builders' survey of builder confidence plunged in early October to the lowest level ever recorded in the 22-year history of the survey.

Analysts still believe the economy will be able to avoid a recession because they think the Federal Reserve, which cut interest rates for the first time in four years in September, will reduce rates further should conditions weaken further.

[bhappy2-2]

Its because of all these ILLEGAL ALIEN INVADERS coming into OUR country and taking OUR jobs and sending OUR money back to THEIR COUNTRIES. We need to round up ALL of these ILLEGAL ALIEN INVADERS and EVERYONE who supports them and GET RID OF THEM ALL. They are DESTROYING OUR COUNTRY.

[logicanada]

Yes, things are looking bad for you guys. Our slight bump in unemployment over the last six years is directly linked to U.S automaker and parts manufacturers jobs in Ontario. Not to worry though. India is already outsourcing jobs to the U.S. China will follow shortly. You won''t need all that oil you are dying for. You won''t be able to afford the price of a vehicle.

[oscarez]

"Now the chickens are coming home to roost. Hey there Georgie girl, what do you have to say for yourself now?
Posted by brianbwb at 04:26 AM : Oct 19, 2007"

Bush says, "it''s all the Democrat Congress and the liberal media''s fault. I hates Democrats and the liberal media. If the Democrats and the media would just shut up and let me do my job every thing would come up roses".

Remember Black Monday October 19, 1987. This was the same thing Ronald Reagan said before the Black Monday crash.

[ov442]

Posted by kevzgrl you got it totally accurate.
Before GWB, they calculated financials differently in the Fed, the white house re-wrote guidelines on how stats are read, calculated and reported to inflate their good numbers and make the bad ones disappear.
This all happened in 2002. GWB appointed a LOT of ''buddies'' to federal positions of authority (with no qualifications) but that they donated heavily to his campaign. These people have destroyed the legitimacy our federal government had before they took over.

[ov442]

Posted by gkc99 its not even Gold, its more like Rust.

[kevzgrl]

Plus, they keep touting all these new jobs being created - restaurants, lower wage jobs, things that you certainly cannot support your family on. The town where I live has seen company after company lay off and close this year, at least 3000 so far this year, but they say our county UI rate is still only about 5.5%??? Then the "economic development director" and "port authority" waves a notice saying a new gas station is opening, which will create 35 NEW JOBS - h-e-l-l, you cannot afford to PAY for the gas any longer, so how does that help? OOOHH, look, an new fast food joint is coming to town - again, minumum wage and part-time work....

[kevzgrl]

I work in Unemployment claims processing in my home state, and have always known that the true figure of the "unemployed" is WAAYYY higher than the government tells us. When I get 10-15 calls per DAY asking about extensions because their 26 weeks is gone and multiply that by 5 days per week, then multiply that by the 3000 or so other UI workers in the state who get those same kinds of calls, that tells me a lot. People whose benefits exhaust are not counted as "unemployed" any longer if they are not getting any other form of assistance or registered with the state job service - so, the young person who draws their money out and then moves back home with parents isn''t counted any longer, the husband/wife whose spouse makes just a little too much to qualify for assistance isn''t counted, the person who gives up on the job service registration and lets it lapse isn''t counted - all those, if totaled, probably make our state''s "Unemployment rate" double or even triple what the media reports. Now, multiply that by 50...

[brianbwb-2009]

I remember posting two months ago, when Bush was extolling the new jobs report at the beginning of the summer, I said then that they were all temporary summer jobs, and the economy eas still in recession, I accused Bush of pushing another lie to validate his economic fascism.

Now the chickens are coming home to roost. Hey there Georgie girl, what do you have to say for yourself now?

[gkc99]

All that''s trickling down from Bushit and the Repugs is a golden shower.

[dubephnx]

Better building frames plus increased product confidence = more jobs, new jobs, etc!

Source: New building frame rinforcing method development; steel-bodied reinforcing nets that install to the interior sides of frames. The resulting frame system retains the entire frame under any conditions, extending the life-expectancy of buildings beyond the 100-year minimum design standards.