U.S. Unemployment Claims Remain at 5-Year Low

Unfortunately, the decline isn't matched by a hiring increase

The number of Americans who newly filed last week for unemployment rose only slightly but remained near a five-year low, an indication that fewer people are losing their jobs. New applications for benefits increased from 334,000 to 336,000, the Labor Department said. Jobless claims have fallen below 350,000 in five of the past six weeks, marking the first time that has happened since late 2007, shortly before the recession began. The “persistent decline in claims well after the Hurricane Sandy unwind tells us that underlying economic conditions are improving,” said Neil Dutta, head of economics at Renaissance Macro Research. Still, the decline in layoffs hasn’t been matched by a rapid pace of hiring. The U.S. has added an average of more than 200,000 jobs a month in the past four months, but the unemployment rate has been stuck just below 8%. (MarketWatch)

[SUBSCRIBE TO LOOP 21 RSS FEED]