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More Americans filing for unemployment insurance than previously predicted
By Catholic Online (NEWS CONSORTIUM)
April 27th, 2012
Catholic Online (www.catholic.org)
April 27th, 2012
Catholic Online (www.catholic.org)
The U.S. labor market, it appears, is running on its own schedule. More
Americans than forecast filed applications for unemployment benefits
last week, a sign that the improving economy is taking its time.
Analysts insist that fewer firings are needed to lay the groundwork for more hiring, which in turn should support consumer spending, which remains the biggest part of the economy.
Federal Reserve policy makers said that while labor-market conditions have improved, the unemployment rate "remains elevated," which explains why they stuck to a plan to hold borrowing costs close to zero through 2014.
"It's just so hard for companies to be confident and start hiring," Yelena Shulyatyeva, a U.S. economist at BNP Paribas in New York says. BNP Paribas correctly projected the level of jobless claims. "We believe that March is probably not the end of the modest readings on payrolls."
A separate report today showed that signed contracts to buy U.S. homes rose more than forecast in March as low interest rates drew buyers back into the market.
The National Association of Realtors reported that the index of pending home purchases rose 4.1 percent to 101.4, the highest level since April 2010, after a 0.4 percent gain in February. The median forecast of 43 economists surveyed by Bloomberg News called for a one percent rise in the measure, which tracks contracts on previously owned homes.
Stocks rose, erasing an early drop, as the increase in pending home sales overshadowed pessimism triggered by soft jobless claims and earnings at Exxon Mobil Corp. and United Parcel Service Inc.
Jobless claims in the Bloomberg survey were estimated from 355,000 to 390,000. The Labor Department revised the previous week's figure from 386,000. Claims in the week ended April 14 were the highest since Jan. 7.
The four-week moving average, a less-volatile measure than the weekly figures, climbed to 381,750 last week, the highest since Jan. 7, from 375,500.
The number of people continuing to receive jobless benefits rose to 3.32 million in the week ended April 14 from 3.31 million.
These figures do not include the number of Americans receiving extended benefits under federal programs.
Those who've used up their traditional benefits and are now collecting emergency and extended payments decreased by about 60,000 to 3.14 million in the week ended April 7.
© 2012, Catholic Online. Distributed by NEWS CONSORTIUM.