New Jobless Claims Bounce Back Up

This morning, the Labor Department announced that the number of people making initial jobless claims increased sharply last week, up by 37,000 to 464,000. The sustained, high number of initial claims feeds the sustained, high jobless rate. Economists say initial claims need to fall into the 300,000s to demonstrate job growth and to spark a drop in the overall unemployment rate. Claims have remained around 450,000 since the beginning of the year.

Last week, claims had dropped to their lowest level in nearly two years. But the Labor Department says last week’s drop was a blip, noting that weekly jobless claims tend to be a jumpy measure. Big manufacturers like General Motors made fewer temporary layoffs than usual, due to higher demand and the already reduced size of their workforce.