Unemployment claims have fallen slightly for the third week in a row but there are still too many first time claims being filed to indicate that there have been significant job gains. Unemployment claims fell 5,000 to 457,000 according to the Labor Department. The four-week average of unemployment claims dropped to 471,250. Despite this the [...]
Continue reading...Thursday, February 11, 2010
The White House is predicting a slow but steady job recovery for 2010. According to President Obama’s chief economist, Christina Romer, the White House anticipates job growth of 95,000 per month for this year but doesn’t expect significant movement in the unemployment percentage. This prediction mirrors many private forecasts, and the White House may be trying [...]
Continue reading...Thursday, January 7, 2010
The number of new claims for unemployment edged up slightly last week to 434,000. Analysts had predicted a much larger jump, to 447,000. The one week rise followed two straight weeks of declines, and the four week average, considered to be a more reliable indicator of trends in the job market, continued it’s [...]
Continue reading...Wednesday, December 23, 2009
Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner appeared this morning on ABC’s “Good Morning America” to discuss the economic recovery. His message was one of cautious optimism. While discounting the possibility of job growth in December, Geithner was pleased with the lower than expect job loss rate in November and repeated what most economists are saying [...]
Continue reading...Monday, December 7, 2009
We’ve talked before about how temp jobs are a leading indicator for economic recovery, because companies will often test the waters by using temp workers as things turn around, and then revert to full employment. With that in mind, Novembers job numbers may give us a sign of good things to come. The [...]
Continue reading...Friday, December 4, 2009
The latest numbers show that that employers cut 11,000 jobs in November, less than expected by most analysts. The jobless rate dropped from 10.2% to 10% and perhaps most siginificanly, the average work week increased from 33 hours to 33.2 hours. Because employers typically extend the number of hours before hiring new employees, [...]
Continue reading...Wednesday, December 2, 2009
Payroll services company ADP released its monthly report today and said that the private sector cut another 169,000 jobs in November. This is down from 195,000 in October and marks the eighth straight month that job cuts have fallen. Analysts are predicting net job growth starting in February and a return to “full [...]
Continue reading...Wednesday, November 25, 2009
New claims for unemployment insurance fell last week to 466,000, the lowest mark since September of 2008. Even as new claims start to slow down, the unemployment rate continues to nudge upwards. Many economists continue to believe that unemployment won’t turn around until the middle of next year. There were other encouraging signs of [...]
Continue reading...Monday, November 23, 2009
The unemployment rate in Oklahoma hit its highest level in 21 years last month, coming in a 7.1%. The good news is that even though unemployment continued to rise, the state added 8,000 jobs in the same time frame, many of which have not yet been filled. The biggest gains, in what is [...]
Continue reading...Friday, November 20, 2009
It’s beginning to feel like a trend, and this is the kind of trend that we like to talk about. Job losses slowed across the nation in October, with several states adding jobs. The two states with the highest jobless rates, Michigan and Nevada, both showed a decline. Michigan’s jobless rate fell [...]
Continue reading...
Thursday, March 18, 2010
1 Comment