Truemors
As Americans wait to see what will happen the the US economy, painful evidence of what is comming shows itself in weekly jobless claims...
What happens if the number of jobless claims continue to increase?
Is there a way out?
President Barak Obama and the congress have their work cut out for them.
leftrail ######################## BEGIN: Section ########################
Thu Nov 20, 2008 8:59am ESTWASHINGTON, Nov 20 (Reuters) - The number of U.S. workers filing new claims for jobless benefits surged last week to their highest level in 16 years, Labor Department data showed on Thursday, as a harsh economic environment forces employers to cut back on hiring.
Initial claims for state unemployment insurance benefits were a seasonally adjusted 542,000 in the week ended Nov. 15 from a revised 515,000 the previous week. That was higher than analysts' forecast for a reading of 505,000 new claims.
The latest data has added to fears that the U.S. economy faces a deep recession and paints a gloomy outlook for the labor market.
"It means we're probably facing another payroll employment report showing November job losses in the vicinity of 200,000."
The four-week moving average of new jobless claims, a better gauge of underlying labor trends because it irons out week-to-week volatility, rose to 506,500 from 490,750 the week before, the highest since the start of 1983.
Comments (0)