Jobless claims rise more than forecast last week - Standard-Examiner
Jobless claims increased by 12,000 to 282,000 in the week ended Aug. The start of a new school year, which differs from state to state, may introduce a period of volatility in the data as such calendar events are difficult to seasonally adjust, according to a Labor Department spokesman. “It does suggest that the labor market is pretty tight and that there aren’t a lot of people leaving their jobs involuntarily,” David Berson, chief economist at Nationwide Insurance in Columbus, Ohio, said before the report. Estimates in the Bloomberg survey for jobless claims ranged from 268,000 to 278,000. The Labor Department revised the prior week’s reading to 270,000 from an initially reported 271,000. No states were estimated last week and there was nothing... The four-week average of claims, a less-volatile measure than the weekly figure, climbed to 275,500 from 272,250 in the prior week. The number of people continuing to receive jobless benefits fell by 9,000 to 2. 26 million in the week ended Aug. Source: www.standard.net
