The weekly jobless claims from the U.S. Labor Department showed a decline from the week before. The weekly claims fell by a 29,000 adjusted figure to 469,000 claims after last week’s figure was moved up to 498,000 versus a prior 496,000. The 4-week average also fell 3,500 to 470,750.
The big change here is in the army of unemployed measured by the continuing claims. The figure dropped by 134,000 to 4,500,000 from a revised 4,634,000 a week ago. This figure is still high yet appears to be a year low.
Weather is playing an issue in these figures. Some government offices in the Northeast have been closed or were on shorter hours as a result of major snow storms. Despite Larry Summers trying to prep us for a weak jobs figure on tomorrow’s unemployment report, there is no clear barometer or major change seen from any of this week’s labor data.
JON C. OGG
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