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KEY POINTS:
* Initial claims for state unemployment benefits rose 27,000 to a seasonally adjusted 412,000, the Labor Department said. * Economists polled by Reuters had forecast claims slipping to 380,000. The prior week's figure was revised up to 385,000 from the previously reported 382,000. * The four-week moving average of unemployment claims -- a better measure of underlying trends - climbed 5,500 to 395,750.
* The Labor Department said its seasonally adjusted index for prices paid at the farm and factory gate - excluding volatile food and energy costs -- rose 0.3 percent after gaining 0.2 percent in February. * Economists had expected core PPI to rise 0.2 percent in March.
COMMENTS:
STEPHEN STANLEY, CHIEF ECONOMIST, PIERPONT SECURITIES, STAMFORD, CONNECTICUT
JOBLESS CLAIMS: "The Labor Department is attributing the rise to the turn in the calendar quarter but that is something that it should have accounted for. "You just have a wait-and-see whether the weekly claims figure stays above 400,000. If you see that, then it would be worrisome."
MORE
The government says applications for unemployment benefits rose 27,000 to a seasonally adjusted 412,000 for the week ended April 9. That left applications at their highest point since mid-February. Applications near 375,000 are consistent with a sustained increase in hiring. Applications peaked during the recession at 659,000. The four-week average of applications, a less volatile measure, rose to 395,750. However, applications have dropped about 6 percent over the past two months. At the same time, businesses have stepped up hiring. "The picture we still get -- even with this one-week pop -- is that the labor market is getting better," said economist Joel Naroff of Naroff Economic Advisors. "The unemployment claims trend over an extended period of time is positive." Companies added more than 200,000 jobs in March for the second straight month, the first time that has happened since 2006. The unemployment rate fell to a two-year low of 8.8 percent and has dropped a full percentage point since November.
However, a more sobering reason for the drop is that the number of people who are either working or seeking a job is surprisingly low for this stage of the recovery. People without jobs who aren't looking for one aren't counted as unemployed. Once they start looking again, they're classified as unemployed, and the unemployment rate can go back up. The number of people collecting benefits fell to 3.68 million during the week ending April 2, one week behind the applications data. That's the lowest total since late September 2008. But that doesn't include millions of people receiving aid under the emergency unemployment benefits programs put in place during the recession. Overall, 8.5 million people received unemployment benefits in the week ending March 26, the latest data available. That's down slightly from the previous week.
Applications for unemployment benefits could rise further in the coming weeks due to disruptions from the earthquake and tsunami in Japan. Toyota said last week that it will probably be forced to temporarily shut down all of its North American factories. Nissan and Ford Motor Co. have said several North American plants would be closed for some of April. Businesses in February posted the largest number of job openings in more than two years, evidence that hiring is picking up. Employers advertised 3.1 million available jobs that month, the most since September 2008, the government reported Wednesday. Google Inc, electronics store hhgregg Inc. and Kohl's Corp. are among the companies that have announced plans in recent weeks to increase hiring.
Source
This quarter a good number of people were fired from my department. Basically because a merger is about to happen and companies have to decided to continue to show profit by eliminating positions and pile the work on the people left. They aren't hurting..and if things get tight..they go with consultants. Some time ago I pointed out that eventually all labor will be consultants..if conservatives get their way.
So far..so good.
