U.S. initial jobless claims surged 30,000 to 586,000 for the week ending December 20, the U.S. Labor Department announced Wednesday -- the highest initial weekly jobless claims total since 1982.
"Any level above 500,000 is high, but now we're soaring toward 600,000. This has to be reversed soon, or the unemployment rate is going to sail over 8% by the time the recovery starts," economist Peter Dawson said.
The U.S. unemployment rate currently is 6.7%. An 8% unemployment rate "would be very bad news for corporate revenue and earnings, and the stock market, in addition to increasing social service costs of the states," Dawson said.
Economists surveyed by Bloomberg News had expected this week's initial jobless claims to total 552,000. Claims for the previous week were revised to 556,000.
In addition, the 4-week moving average soared 13,750 to 544,250. Economists view the 4-week average as a better indicator of unemployment conditions, as it smooths-out anomalies for strikes, holidays, or other idiosyncratic events.
One bright spot: continuing claims dipped 17,000 to 4.387 million. Still, economists note that the level reflects labor market stress, and the long time it takes for those downsized to find comparable employment. Few companies are filling vacancies, and even temporary work assignments are declining, another negative sign for the labor market.
Economic Analysis: No Christmas 'rally' for the labor market, as poor job market conditions persist. The aforementioned underscores the need for passage of a large fiscal stimulus package as the new year dawns -- one that includes an extension of unemployment benefits for the states.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
12-24-2008 @ 9:35AM
Virgil Bierschwale said...
Two recent things this week that make me realize more and more that nobody has ever actualy questioned the numbers.
The other night on Fox Business, they were discussing how the rich that made over 1 million dollars per year paid the majority of the taxes here in America.
Being the curious type of fellow that I am, I dug out the latest numbers from the IRS (2006) and totalled them up.
Whats interesting is that the people making from 50,000 to 200,000 paid nearly twice as much as the poorer and the richer groups.
You can double check the numbers yourself by going to http://www.KeepAmericaAtWork.com and reading the article titled "Fox Business News"
Since I also distrust the unemployment numbers, I have created a map that I will use to count everybody that is unemployed or had their job offshored as we need actual hard facts to steer this ship that we call America.
Please tell all of your friends that are unemployed, or had their job offshored or are worried about their job being offshored to add their names to the map at http://www.KeepAmericaAtWork.com
Also, now that I have finished work on the unemployment/offshored map, I plan on starting on the new and improved Wall of Shame so that we can begin to see who is sending our jobs offshore and who is hiding their money from paying their fair share of taxes to keep our country running.
Stay tuned,
Virgil
http://www.KeepAmericaAtWork.com
12-24-2008 @ 11:16AM
Sailingwindward said...
Two things would cure the unemployment and the recession, closing the borders and getting out of free trade, the US can't compete with slave wages of China & Mexico, bring back tariffs on imported goods and make easier for jobs to come back to the US, we also need to make it a felony hire illegal workers. The only problem will be our corrupted congress is getting too much foreign lobbyist money and this recession will soon go to a full 1920s depression.
12-25-2008 @ 2:22AM
gerald said...
Don't worry the good old govt will revise these numbers until they fit the bush administrations numbers they want the public to see. They have been lying for months about the real numbers. My neighbor told me over a year ago that the person who helped him at the unemployment office was told nt to tell anyone that we were in a recession or that lots of people were with out work. This came straight from their bosses. We are all being lied to and you are going to lose everything. Get out all your money from the banks and don't trust the govt numbers they are feeding you!
12-25-2008 @ 10:39AM
Cpt D said...
Why don't they tell us the real truth! The unemployment is way over 13% based on the way it was measured during the 30's! Bunch of lying Toadies.