Jobless Claims Unexpectedly Jumped by 8,000

Posted Feb 4th 2010 10:00AM by Connie Madon
Filed under: Employees, Economic Data, Politics, Recession

Initial claims for unemployment rose by 8,000 to a seasonally adjusted 480,000 in the week ended January 30. This surprised economists polled by Reuters who anticipated a drop in claims falling to 460,000 from a previously reported 470,000. A reason given for the rise was the backlog in filings due to short staffing at some state offices.

Meanwhile, the four-week moving average of new claims rose 11,750 to 488,750 last week. The number of workers still receiving aid after one week jumped 2,000 to 4.6 million for the week ended January 23. This too, was above expectations of 4.58 million. The percent of insured in the labor force was unchanged at 3.5%

We had hoped to see a light at the end of the tunnel, but these figures threw cold water on that idea. This recession is becoming more and more brutal as the weeks drag on.

President Obama has a full press for job creation. The key factor is that our industrial production base has shrunk to only 20% of GDP. Counting those persons who have jobs, there is little room to add large numbers of persons to the labor force. It will take some time for things to turn around.

Do you believe that unemployment will turn around this year?

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