Unemployment Office

Photo credit: Burt Lum

The Department of Labor today released its weekly jobless claims, and the numbers showed what we’ve been reporting all week – the economy is simply not doing well.  A few noteworthy points from today’s numbers:

  • Initial claims for state unemployment benefits slipped 3,000 to a seasonally adjusted 382,000, and the prior week’s figure was revised up to show 3,000 more applications than previously reported.
  • Economists guessed wrong…again, as those Reuters polled had forecast claims falling to 375,000 last week.
  • The four-week moving average for new claims rose 2,000 to 377,750, which is the highest level since June.  This is the fifth week in a row that the measure increased.
  • Employers added just 96,000 jobs last month, approximately 50% fewer jobs added from July’s 141,000 count.

Even worse, CNBC noted that “the unemployment rate has been stuck above 8 percent for more than three years, the first time this has happened since the Great Depression.” While the number of people receiving state unemployment benefits fell, sadly, the reason is that they’ve exhausted their 52-week unemployment benefits.  For the week ending 9/8/2012, Colorado had 2,682 new claims filed and had 36,235 people still on unemployment insurance.

Again, the Obama campaign must be disappointed in these numbers. The economy is still headed in the wrong direction.