Thursday, June 4, 2009

If It's Thursday...

...for once, NOT a new record in continuing unemployment claims.
The number of U.S. workers filing new claims for jobless benefits fell for a third straight week last week, government data showed on Thursday, indicating some loss of force in the pace of the labor market's deterioration.

Initial claims for state unemployment insurance benefits fell 4,000 to a seasonally adjusted 621,000 in the week ended May 30, the Labor Department said. The week covered the Memorial Day holiday, which could have had an impact on the data.

Analysts polled by Reuters had forecast new claims slipping to 620,000 from a previously reported count of 623,000.

The number of people staying on the benefit rolls after collecting an initial week of aid fell 15,000 to 6.74 million in the week ended May 23, the latest week for which the data is available.

Still, as long as we remain over 600k new jobless claims each week, we're still in deep. Unemployment is powering a new wave of foreclosures and will continue to dampen growth. Tomorrow we'll see the monthly numbers, and I just don't see any sort of major recovery in the cards.

Welcome to the new normal.

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