New jobless claims drop for first time in 4 weeks

[Turborama]

Source: AP

By CHRISTOPHER S. RUGABER, AP Economics Writer – 47 mins ago -

WASHINGTON – New requests for unemployment benefits fell sharply last week, the first decline in a month and a hopeful sign after a raft of negative economic reports.

New claims for jobless aid dropped by 31,000 to a seasonally adjusted 473,000, the Labor Department said Thursday. Still, claims remain much higher than they would be in a healthy economy. Employers are reluctant to hire as economic growth appears to be slowing.

The drop comes after a steep rise the previous three weeks that sent claims to their highest level in nine months. Those increases raised fears that businesses were starting to layoff more workers.

Even with last week's decline, the four-week average, a less volatile measure, rose to 486,750, the most since November 2009.

The report is "mildly encouraging" but should be treated with caution, said Doug Porter, an economist at BMO Capital Markets, because the weekly claims report is highly volatile.

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100826/ap_on_bi_go_ec_fi/us_economy

[xchrom]

1. Recommend

[backtomn]

2. I would like to be positive....but.....

There has been no net improvement in at least 8 months (as it says.....November 2009) http://www.bullandbearwise.com/InitialJoblessChart.asp). As one of the unemployed.....long-term unemployed, I would like to see more of a plan. This is the one thing that could change our fortunes in November......forget about my fortunes. No moves on this number in the next few months and we will have trouble in November. God help us after that.

[JNelson6563]

3. I keep hoping for improvement

Little signs like this are good but one doesn't want to take too much encouragement from it.....we have so far to go before we can claim substantial improvement.

Julie

[bossy22]

4. its a good sign

much much much better than an increase in jobless claims but like the other posters say we have a long way to go...hopefully this is a start to a boom in hiring

[wordpix]

5. BUT there was a lull in benefits when repugs threatened to kill the extension bill

which luckily, they couldn't do. People who needed extensions couldn't get them unless they reapplied for UIC and were approved, and there was a gap in checks being sent out. Some people may not have reapplied or gotten the extension for various reasons and this may be why there's a decrease in requests.

I hope that's not the case and that this is a hopeful sign, instead.