Jobless claims down somewhat, in contrast to joblessness level

Accentuating the good about United States of America Jobless claims is possible, depending on how you look at the statistics. Jobless claims rose last week, but not as much as economists expected. Job creation and jobless claims have been canceling each other out, which is why the United States of America joblessness level, at 9.6 percent much of the year, shows no signs of going lower.

The reason why won't the joblessness level go down?

Jobless claims raised a whisker last week, by 2,000 to 439,000, based on the Labor Department. The lowest figures in the last two years were shown within the past four weeks since there have been less than 440,000 individuals a week filing for unemployment insurance, report the Association Press. There was an average 4.2 percent decrease within the last month as the average number of jobless claims went down 16,000 to a 443,000 a week average. According to AP, the trends are a signal that more individuals are getting hired than fired. But economists say jobless claims must fall below 425,000 a week to put a dent in the unemployment rate.

The unemployed problem

As hundreds of thousands of freshly jobless workers file jobless claims every week, the number of people who had been collecting unemployment fell by 48,000 within the week ending Nov. 6. That does not necessarily mean they received hired. People whose joblessness benefits have expired that have moved to federal unemployment expansion programs rose by 121,000 the last week of October. Advantages from the emergency extension program will expire when Nov is over. This indicates 2 million people will lose them. Another 2 million will lose advantages in the next few months. It’s unlikely a lame-duck congress will be able to pass another federal unemployment expansion.

Figures don't make clear

Weekly firings are closely watched by economists. Jobless claims used to be able to show if the economy was recovering or not. But Bloomberg reports that during the current tepid economic recovery that relationship appears to be reliable no longer. Companies added 159,000 jobs in October, the fourth straight month more than 100,000 jobs were created. Yet some businesses continue to lay off workers while others are hiring. Forty-two states and United States territories reported rising jobless claims, while 11 reported a decline. There is nevertheless a 9.6 joblessness level that won't change though and that is the fact that could be continually remembered.

Citations

Associated Press

google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hog5HM6YtSPvQ1KRg8oIM4BznnEA?docId=4c61b3bcd52d492c8347b0c63629c446

Bloomberg

bloomberg.com/news/2010-11-18/jobless-claims-in-u-s-increased-less-than-estimated-to-439-000-last-week.html

Forbes

forbes.com/2010/11/18/jobless-data-retail-markets-equities-spending.html?boxes=marketschannelnews