Daily Archives: December 16, 2010

THE SLOW DECLINE IN JOBLESS CLAIMS

The favorable trend in weekly updates for initial jobless claims over the past two months remains intact with today’s release. New filings for unemployment benefits in the U.S. on a seasonally adjusted basis dipped by 3,000 last week to 420,000, the Labor Department reports. That’s hardly a definitive sign that all’s well, but the modest decline of late appears to be alive still, giving hope to the notion that the trendless trend for this series that prevailed earlier this year is now history. Such is the diminished definition of progress these days when it comes to the labor market.

Continue reading