Published: Thursday, 4 Mar 2010 | 8:41 AM ET
New claims for jobless benefits fell last week in a sign that layoffs may be easing as the economy slowly recovers.
The Labor Department said Thursday that initial claims for unemployment insurance fell by 29,000 to a seasonally adjusted 469,000. That nearly matches Wall Street analysts' estimates of 470,000.
Still, any improvement in the job market is likely to be slow, as companies remain reluctant to hire. Last week's drop only partly reverses a sharp rise in claims in the previous two weeks.
The drop in unemployment coincided with a considerable rise in productivity.
The four-week average of claims, which smooths out volatility, fell by 3,500 to 470,750. Despite the drop, the average has risen by about 20,000 since the beginning of the year.
Initial claims have been volatile in recent weeks as last month's severe snowstorms in the Northeast have distorted the data.
Claims rose sharply two weeks ago partly because several states processed a backlog of claims that had built up from previous weeks when government offices closed due to the bad weather. No states reported backlogs this week, a Labor Department analyst said.
The number of people continuing to claim benefits, meanwhile, fell more than expected to 4.5 million.
But the so-called continuing claims do not include millions of people who have used up the regular 26 weeks of benefits typically provided by states, and are receiving extended benefits for up to 73 additional weeks, paid for by the federal government.
Nearly 5.9 million people were receiving extended benefits in the week ended Feb. 13, the latest data available, up from about 5.7 million the previous week. The extended benefit data isn't seasonally adjusted and is volatile from week to week.
In a separate report, the government said productivity in the final three months of last year surged at a faster pace than previously thought as labor costs fell more rapidly.
The Labor Department reported Thursday that productivity jumped at an annual rate of 6.9 percent in the fourth quarter, even better than an initial estimate of a 6.2 percent growth rate. Unit labor costs fell at a rate of 5.9 percent, a bigger drop than the 4.4 percent decline initially estimated.
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The combination of rising productivity and falling labor costs bolsters company profits and helps keep inflation at bay. But it also puts American households under stress, leaving them with less income to increase consumer spending, the key ingredient to economic growth.
tulisan ini bersumber dari www.cnbc.com tujuannya hanyalah untuk data semata
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