The U.S. Department of Labor released the Weekly Claims data for Unemployment Insurance yesterday. Initial claims were at 497,000 for the week ending September 20th. This is the highest initial claims have been since September 2001. The four week average of initial claims, which is not as volatile, was at 474,000 up from the previous week's mark of 462,500.
Continued claims for unemployment insurance increased to 3,591,000 for the week ending September 13th up from the previous week's number of 3,543,000. This is the highest it has been since September, 2003. The four week average for continued claims was also up to 3,528,500 from 3,481,750.
Unemployment is on the rise. According to "The Employment Situation" for September 2008 released today by the U.S. Department of Labor, the unemployment rate was 6.1% in September unchanged from August. Since 1948, the unemployment rate has never risen by more than .5% in a 12 month span without entering into a recession. The unemployment rate is now up 1.4% in the last twelve months and is up 1.7% from its recent low. Nonfarm payrolls decreased by 159,000 in September and decreased by 73,000 in August. Nonfarm payrolls have declined for 9 straight months with a net loss of 760,000 jobs. Over the last ten years, nonfarm payrolls have increased by an average of 107,000 jobs a month to keep up with the increasing population. 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.
At least in regards to employment, the U.S. is in a state of recession. Some sectors, like manufacturing, are just now starting to slow down. The unemployment rate will most likely continue to rise in the coming months.
Sphere: Related Content
No comments:
Post a Comment