Jobless Claims Unexpectedly Rise
Tweet
Share
E-mail
Initial jobless claims rose unexpectedly by 8,000 to 480,000 as the job market registered a second consecutive lackluster weekly report.
Economists had expected jobless claims to fall to 455,000, but the newest report from the U.S. Labor Department on Thursday has stifled the rally on Wall Street as the Dow Jones Industrial average fell sharply by 2.18 percent to 10,046.62 following the news.
The two week movement in a negative direction is adding to the concerns over when the job market will recover as the increases in the both the four-week moving average by 11,750 to 468,750 and in the continuing claims by 2,000 to 4.602 million already have people stirring about the potential for job germination.
The largest decreases by state for the week ending on January 23 in include California down 22,674, Michigan down 11,757 and North Carolina down 9,546.
Only three states did show growth as Oregon led the way with the creation of 4,336 jobs for the week. Puerto Rico added 2,439 jobs.
One positive point for investors to take into account before placing too much emphasis on the unexpected rise in initial jobless claims is the continuing increase in productivity by U.S. factories which showed seasonally adjusted growth of 6.2 percent in the fourth quarter, the third consecutive quarter of sharp growth.
Economists had projected growth in U.S. factory production of 6 percent. While the results were better-than-expected factory labor costs did show a 4.4 percent cut in labor costs as factories are still reluctant to create jobs.
Economists had expected jobless claims to fall to 455,000, but the newest report from the U.S. Labor Department on Thursday has stifled the rally on Wall Street as the Dow Jones Industrial average fell sharply by 2.18 percent to 10,046.62 following the news.
The two week movement in a negative direction is adding to the concerns over when the job market will recover as the increases in the both the four-week moving average by 11,750 to 468,750 and in the continuing claims by 2,000 to 4.602 million already have people stirring about the potential for job germination.
The largest decreases by state for the week ending on January 23 in include California down 22,674, Michigan down 11,757 and North Carolina down 9,546.
Only three states did show growth as Oregon led the way with the creation of 4,336 jobs for the week. Puerto Rico added 2,439 jobs.
One positive point for investors to take into account before placing too much emphasis on the unexpected rise in initial jobless claims is the continuing increase in productivity by U.S. factories which showed seasonally adjusted growth of 6.2 percent in the fourth quarter, the third consecutive quarter of sharp growth.
Economists had projected growth in U.S. factory production of 6 percent. While the results were better-than-expected factory labor costs did show a 4.4 percent cut in labor costs as factories are still reluctant to create jobs.
Create E-mail Alert Related Categories
Economic DataRelated Entities
Initial Jobless ClaimsSign up for StreetInsider Free!
Receive full access to all new and archived articles, unlimited portfolio tracking, e-mail alerts, custom newswires and RSS feeds - and more!
