The U.S. Department of Labor released the Weekly Claims data for Unemployment Insurance yesterday. Initial claims were at 448,000 for the week ending July 26th. This is the highest initial claims have been since April 2003. The four week average of initial claims, which is not as volatile, was at 393,000 up from the previous week's mark of 382,000.
Continued claims for unemployment insurance increased to 3,282,000 for the week ending July 19th up from the previous week's number of 3,097,000. This is the highest it has been since December, 2003. The four week average for continued claims was also up to 3,174,500 from 3,131,750.
Unemployment is on the rise. According to "The Employment Situation" for July 2008 released today by the U.S. Department of Labor, the unemployment rate was 5.7% in July up from 5.5% in June. Since 1948, the unemployment ate has never risen by more than .5% without entering into a recession. The unemployment rate is now up 1.0% in the last twelve months and is up 1.3% from its recent low. Nonfarm payrolls decreased by 51,000 in July and decreased by the same in June. Nonfarm payrolls have declined for 7 straight months shedding 463,000 jobs. Over the last ten years, nonfarm payrolls have increased by an average of 107,000 jobs. Nonfarm payrolls rarely decrease outside of recession periods and it is even more rare for consecutive declines. Excluding periods right before, during and after recessions, nonfarm payrolls have declined consecutively only two times: 3 consecutive times in 1951 and 2 consecutive times in 1952.
It now looks like the unemployment rate is picking up steam. News of companies going bankrupt, closing stores, or trimming sales forces seems to be increasing.
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