The number of Americans filing new applications for unemployment benefits fell last week, suggesting a moderation in job growth in August was an aberration.
Advertisement
On Thursday, the Labor Department said that applications for last week for benefits from unemployment dropped by 6,000 to an adjusted seasonally rate of 275,000. In the prior week, claims came in at 282,000, while the four-week average increased by 3,250 to 275,500. For the last six months first-time claims have been below the 300,000 level that economists associate with a healthy labor market as steady demand persuades employers to retain workers, according to Bloomberg. The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) said that there are no special factors in this report.
See Friday’s Arkansas Democrat-Gazette for full details. From August 2014 to August 2015, import prices tumbled 11.4%, the biggest year-over-year drop since the last year of the Great Recession in 2009.
The advance number of actual initial claims under state programs, unadjusted, totaled 231,972 in the week ending September 5, an increase of 1,893 (or 0.8 percent) from the previous week.
The economy added 173,000 jobs in August, the fewest in five months.
“In short, claims continue to show no sign of an uptrend, consistent with a still-strong trend in employment growth”, Jim O’Sullivan, chief USA economist for High Frequency Economics, said in a note to clients. The Fed is closely following all economic data in advance of next week’s meeting, when officials could decide to raise interest rates for the first time in nine years. In addition, the unemployment rate for the underemployed and for those who have just given up looking for work hovers in the 10% range consistently. The state of New York reported a 4,642-rise in initial claims due to layoffs in the transportation and warehousing, education service, and manufacturing industries.
Advertisement
The Fed targets 2 percent inflation as a cushion against falling prices, or deflation, which can drag down wages and is hard to counteract.
