Signs the economy is getting worse for workers increase this week as jobless claims climbed to over 400,000. This was the highest level in nearly four months according to the International Herald Tribune
The number of Americans filing first-time claims for unemployment benefits rose last week to the highest level in almost four months, a sign the slowing economy is weakening the labor market.
Initial jobless claims increased by 34,000 to 406,000 in the week ended July 19, from a revised 372,000 the prior week, the Labor Department said Thursday in Washington. The filings exceeded economists' forecast and were the most since 406,000 in the week ended March 29.
U.S. employers are reducing workers as surging fuel costs, a three-year housing slump and a crisis in credit markets restrains demand. Rising joblessness reinforces concern that consumers will pull back on spending, which accounts for more than two-thirds of the economy.
"The job market is weakening, and the numbers this morning confirm that," Brian Bethune, an economist at Global Insight Inc. in Lexington, Massachusetts, said in a Bloomberg Television interview. "The economy is growing but at very slow rates."
This news comes on top of what has already been a grim year for job growth. In 2007 the economy created an average of 91,000 jobs each month. This year the economy has lost jobs each month.
Over a six-month period, payrolls have declined for a total loss of 438,000 workers and the payroll in April and May was revised to 52,000 more jobs.
The U.S. economy has lost jobs every month since the beginning of this year and it shed 62,000 jobs in June and up to 49,000 jobs in May. Last year, the economy created on average 91,000 new jobs each month.
If the new jobless claim figures are any indication July will probably be another month that loses jobs. Maybe by the end of the year there will some new job creation as retailers hire workers for the holiday shopping season.
