Amidst gloomy economic news that has swirled around the first quarter, the number of unemployment claims is lower than what was predicted for last week. Unemployment claim numbers can be inconsistent week to week, but over time they are one of the better predictors of the strength of the job market. Last week they were 339,000 for first-time filers, which is down from 355,000 the week prior and at half of what it was at the peak of the financial crisis in 2009 (670,000). Second-time or more filers still is at about 3 million which indicates that companies haven't turned to boosting hiring, but at least they are not laying off more workers. Analyzing this trend points towards a hopeful shift to the economy continuing its resilient growth in 2013.
http://money.cnn.com/2013/04/25/news/economy/unemployment-benefits/index.html?iid=SF_E_River
No comments:
Post a Comment