Big drop in US jobless claims
According to the Wall Street Journal:
WASHINGTON -- The number of U.S. workers filing new claims for unemployment benefits posted its biggest drop in almost three years last week.
But a Labor Department analyst cautioned against interpreting the decline as a sign of better days ahead in the economy. Seasonal adjustments are difficult in early July due to seasonal layoffs in automobile and other manufacturing industries, the analyst said, and an increase is likely next week.
Indeed, continuing claims lasting more than one week hit a fresh four-and-a-half year high, according to the Labor Department report, an indication that it is taking the unemployed much longer to find new work than it did a few months ago.
Initial claims for jobless benefits tumbled 58,000 to 346,000 after seasonal adjustments in the week ended July 5, the Labor Department said Thursday. Economists in a Dow Jones Newswires survey expected a 6,000 rise.
However, the Labor analyst cautioned that the low number doesn't mean the economy is all of a sudden rebounding. The analyst explained that the government's seasonal adjustments had expected a 96,800 rise in claims due to temporary layoffs that usually occur among automakers and some other manufacturers as they retool their plants....click to continue.
