The weekly jobless claims from the Labor Department was roughly in-line with expectations as the rate came to an adjusted drop of 3,000 jobless claims to 456,000. The reading from a weak ago was revised to 459,000 versus a prior figure of 453,000. The four-week average rose by 2,500 to 463,000.
The good news here is on the continuing jobless claims as it came in at what appears to be an 18-month low. The army of unemployed measured by the continuing claims fell by about 255,000 to 4,462,000, versus a revised figure of 4,717,000 from a week ago. It is unclear how many of these are seasonal and how many are due to benefits expiring.
For the jobs figures to start looking better, the weekly claims needs to get well under that 400,000 mark. So far that is a figure which has remained very elusive. All of those census workers are probably throwing off the continuing claims as well.
JON C. OGG
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