Jobless Claims Hold, Still Red-Line for Unemployment

The U.S. Labor Department is out with its latest round of weekly jobless claims. Last week’s figure came to a drop of 3,000 on a revised basis to 420,000 versus 423,000 a week earlier.  Last week had originally been reported as 421,000 before the revision.

Bloomberg had estimates at 420,000 and Dow Jones had estimates at 425,000 on last look.

The four-week average fell again by 5,250 to 422,750 from a revised 428,000 the week before.

The army of unemployed measured by the continuing jobless claims came to a gain of 22,000 to 4.135 million versus a revised figure of 4.113 million a week earlier.

The good news is that things aren’t getting worse.  There is just nothing here that suggests that these figures will create a boost to the employment situation.

JON C. OGG