WASHINGTON The number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment benefits dropped for the third consecutive week last week, pushing jobless claims to the lowest level in more than three years.
The Labor Department reported Thursday that the number of laid-off workers seeking jobless benefits fell by 6,000 last week to 336,000, a level that was last seen the week of Jan. 13, 2001, just before Bill Clinton relinquished the White House to George W. Bush.
In other economic news, the government said inflation at the wholesale level jumped by 0.6 percent in January, the biggest increase in three months. That reflected in part the largest jump in energy prices since last March at the start of the Iraq war. Outside of the volatile food and energy categories, the Producer Price Index rose a more moderate 0.3 percent.
The release of the PPI report for January was a month late as the Labor Department struggled to overcome difficulties in converting to a new classification system for the products it tracks for price changes.
The third straight weekly decline in jobless benefits raised hopes that a lengthy stretch of layoffs is coming to a close, setting the stage for businesses to finally begin rehiring laid-off workers.
The drop of 6,000 in the number of Americans filing unemployment benefits caught analysts by surprise. They had been expecting a slight increase after two weekly declines.
The drop left the four-week moving average of claims at 344,000, the lowest level for this barometer of the labor market since Jan. 27, 2001.
http://www.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2004/3/18/91200.shtml
The Labor Department reported Thursday that the number of laid-off workers seeking jobless benefits fell by 6,000 last week to 336,000, a level that was last seen the week of Jan. 13, 2001, just before Bill Clinton relinquished the White House to George W. Bush.
In other economic news, the government said inflation at the wholesale level jumped by 0.6 percent in January, the biggest increase in three months. That reflected in part the largest jump in energy prices since last March at the start of the Iraq war. Outside of the volatile food and energy categories, the Producer Price Index rose a more moderate 0.3 percent.
The release of the PPI report for January was a month late as the Labor Department struggled to overcome difficulties in converting to a new classification system for the products it tracks for price changes.
The third straight weekly decline in jobless benefits raised hopes that a lengthy stretch of layoffs is coming to a close, setting the stage for businesses to finally begin rehiring laid-off workers.
The drop of 6,000 in the number of Americans filing unemployment benefits caught analysts by surprise. They had been expecting a slight increase after two weekly declines.
The drop left the four-week moving average of claims at 344,000, the lowest level for this barometer of the labor market since Jan. 27, 2001.
http://www.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2004/3/18/91200.shtml
