Washington, DC, United States (AHN) – Initial jobless claims for the week ending June 25 decreased by 1,000 from the previous rate but still remained above the 400,000 mark for the 12th consecutive week, according to the United States Department of Labor.

Some 428,000 newly jobless workers filed first time claims for unemployment compensation insurance payments during the week ending June 25, down from 429,000.

Economists say that initial jobless claims have to drop below 400,000 weekly and stay there before the economy sees recovery in the jobs sector of the economy from the recession that ended for the financial services sector two years ago.

For the less volatile four-week moving average, there was an increase of 5,000 to 426,750 claims when compared to the previous week’s unrevised average of 426,250.

The largest increases in first-time jobless claims during the week ending June 18, the latest week for such data, were in California (+4,393), New Jersey (+3,274), Florida (+3,146), Michigan (+1,794) and Pennsylvania (+1,653).

For the week ending June 11, the latest week such data is available, the total number of people claiming benefits in all programs was 7,511,613, down by 30,701 from the previous week.

Jobless worker in 33 states and the District of Columbia had access to extended benefits during the week ending June 11. Those states were Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Washington and West Virginia.

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Washington, DC, United States (AHN) – Initial jobless claims remained above the 400,000 mark for the 11th consecutive week and moved up slightly by 9,000 to a seasonally adjusted 429,000 for the week ending June 18.

It was another sign that the jobs sector has not begun a recovery from the recession that ended for the financial services sector of the economy in 2009.

The less volatile four-week moving average also remained above the 400,000 mark at 426,250, which was unchanged from the previous week’s revised average.

Economists say that one signal of a jobs sector recovery will come when first time claims for unemployment compensation insurance benefits drop below 400,000 and remain there for a prolonged period.

In addition, the total number of people claiming jobless benefits in all programs for the week ending June 4, the most recent for which data is available, increased by 137,220 from the week before to 7,538,448 claimants.

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Washington, DC, United States (AHN) – First time claims for jobless benefits remained stubbornly above the key 400,000 mark during the week ending June 11. The tally was 414,000 initial claims, according to the U.S. Department of Labor.

Initial jobless claims have been stuck above 400,000 weekly since April.

Although that was down by 16,000 from the previous week’s revised figure of 430,000, it is still too high to signal that a long-awaited jobs recovery is near.

Economists say that it takes the creation of around 200,000 jobs per month to provide jobs for people entering the work force for the first time.

To put that situation into perspective, the economy would need to create about 20 million jobs right now to provide jobs for those who lost their jobs since the recession began, along with the people who tried to enter the workforce during that time and could not find their first job. Analysts say that could take 10 to 15 years to accomplish.

The less volatile four-week moving average was unchanged from the previous week at 424,750 initial jobless claims.

In addition, the percentage of jobless Americans covered by the nation’s unemployment compensation insurance program was unchanged at 2.9 percent for the week ending June 4, the most recent week for which such data is available.

The largest increases in initial claims for the week ending June 4 were in:

• Wisconsin (+1,528)
• Tennessee (+1,055)
• Illinois (+755)
• New Mexico (+659) and
• Indiana (+539)

The number of people claiming benefits in all jobless programs for May 28, the latest week for which such data is available, was 7,401,228, which was down by 209,116 from the previous week.

During the week ending May 28, extended jobless benefits were available in Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Washington and West Virginia.

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Washington, D.C., United States (AHN) – New unemployment claims remain stubbornly high at 427,000 for the week ending June 4, which were 1,000 more than the previous week.

Economists generally agree that initial claims for unemployment compensation insurance must drop below the 400,000 mark weekly and stay there before there is a recovery in the jobs sector of the United State’s economy. But claims have been stuck above that mark for nine weeks now.

Although the nation officially came out of recession two years ago, so far the economic recovery has been limited to the financial services sector of the economy with the jobs and small business sectors still struggling.

The U.S. only created 54,000 jobs last month, which is well below the 200,000 jobs the economy needs to create monthly just for first time workers. In addition, competition for jobs is stiff. With only 3 million openings nationwide, there are at least 4.6 jobless Americans for every available job.

Moreover, the less volatile four-week moving average for first time jobless claims is still stuck above the 400,000 mark at 424,000, a small decrease of 2,750 from the previous week’s revised average of 426,750, according to the U.S. Department of Labor.

The total number of people claiming benefits in all programs for the week ending May 21, the latest week for which such data is available, fell slightly to 7,601,344, down by 89,233 from the week before.

However, that does not necessarily mean those people found jobs. Jobless benefits limits can end before a person finds work. In addition, that is more likely to happen in the future as many states move to cut the number of weeks a jobless worker can collect unemployment compensation insurance payments.

 

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Atlanta, GA, United States (AHN) – U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke expressed confidence on Tuesday that the American economy will continue to recover slowly even if recent indicators point to economic weakness.

He said despite oil and other commodities price increases, he sees no evidence of broad and enduring inflation. Bernanke acknowledged that the moderate pace of growth is uneven across sectors and is perceived by unemployed and underemployed workers as frustratingly slow.

Data released by the Labor Department on Friday said that job growth slowed dramatically in May and unemployment rate went up to 9.1 percent.

Bernanke told delegates to an International Monetary Conference in Atlanta that growth would likely pick up in the second semester of 2011 as the negative impact of the Japanese disaster on manufacturing output and gas prices ease.

However, Bernanke said there is little chance that the Fed will go through another round of quantitative easing to expand money supply and boost the American economy. The conclusion of the second round of the Fed’s $600-billion QE this month led to speculations that a third quantitative easing might be on the way.

U.S. President Barack Obama has similarly expressed worry about the slow pace of the American economy’s growth, but he discounted the possibility of another recession.

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