Joblessness is down again on USA recovery
THE NUMBER of new unemployment claimants in the US slid last week, Department of Labor figures showed yesterday.
Weekly initial jobless claims slipped by 5,000 to 388,000 in the week ending 12 November, taking claims to their lowest since April.
The figure stood 53,000 higher in the same week last year.
The insured unemployment rate fell to 2.9 per cent, from 3.4 per cent in the same week last year.
Meanwhile, the Philadelphia Fed’s manufacturing index stayed positive, but slowed from 8.7 last month to 3.6 this month.
“The index is still well above the deep negative readings seen a few months ago, and the employment index actually surged to 12.0 in November,” said Capital Economics’ Paul Ashworth.
“Given the general improvement in the tone of the incoming economic data we are not overly worried by the half-step back in the manufacturing index.”