Jobless Claims in U.S. Rise as Auto Plant Layoff Effects Ease
By Alex Kowalski - Jul 19, 2012 8:30 AM ET
More Americans than forecast filed first-time claims for unemployment insurance payments last week as the volatility induced by the annual auto-plant retooling period wore off.
Applications for jobless benefits increased by 34,000 to 386,000 in the week ended July 14, Labor Department figures showed today. Economists forecast 365,000 claims, according to the median estimate in a Bloomberg News survey. The volatility in the numbers was due to a change in the timing of annual automobile plant layoffs, a Labor Department spokesman said as the data were released.
Job seekers wait in line to enter a Choice Career Fair in New York, U.S., on Wednesday, July 18, 2012. Photographer: Victor J. Blue/Bloomberg
.Determining whether the labor market is improving or deteriorating has been more difficult in recent weeks because a reduction in the number of auto-plant layoffs typical at this point of the year has thrown the Labor Department’s seasonal adjustment process out of line. It may take weeks to judge whether the labor market is making substantial progress.
“We have to ignore claims for a few weeks because it’s just too hard to get a true signal from the numbers,” Daniel Silver, an economist at JPMorgan Chase & Co. in New York, said before the report. “Even just a small mistake in the seasonal factors can generate big changes.”
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