The Labor Department has reported another weak figure in the weekly jobless claims, and this may sour the tone for next week’s unemployment report. Jobless claims fell by an adjusted 1,000 to 388,000 for the last week, but the prior week was again revised higher to 389,000 from a prior report of 386,000. Today’s report might not increase the unemployment rate on its own but it does go to soften the hopes of more payrolls being created.
In order to smooth out the reports, the four-week average saw a gain of 6,250 to 381,750 in the jobless claims. The continuing jobless claims comes with a one-week lag but this rose again by 3,000 to a total of 3,315,000.
Joe Public should care about these reports because this is just ahead of the college graduation waves in May and that signals that the weak employment market is leaving them out. Unfortunately, half of those who have graduated from college are either unemployed or they are said to be working in jobs where no college degree is required.
This was the third consecutive week with a reading over 385,000 in weekly jobless claims.
JON C. OGG
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