Thursday, August 2, 2012

It's The Economy Stupid: Joblessness

Jobless claims are up from last week.  It’s not real bad in and of itself, just continued indication of a weak economy.  Supposedly the last couple of week’s numbers were weak due to the seasonal auto plant shutdowns.  Yeah, yeah, yeah, statistical noise.  The bottom line is job growth has been insufficient.

 

Economic Event

Period

Economic Survey

Actual Reported

Original Prior

Revised Prior

Challenger Job Cuts YoY

JUL

 

-44.5%

-9.4%

 

RBC Consumer Outlook Index

AUG

       46.4

          47.0

 

Initial Jobless Claims

JUL 28

370K

365K

353K

357K

Continuing Jobless Claims

JUL 21

3288K

3272K

3287K

3291K

 

The Challenger Job Cuts report today showed employers announced fewer job cuts in July than the same month last year as dismissals eased

at retailers, government agencies and some manufacturers.   Planned firings fell 44.5 percent from July 2011 to a 15-month low of 36,855, according to figures released by Chicago-based Challenger, Gray & Christmas Inc. The year-over-year decline in dismissals was the biggest since January 2011.

 

The four-week moving average for jobless claims, a less volatile measure than the weekly figures, fell to 365,500 last week, the lowest since March, from 368,250.

 

John Broussard

Assistant State Treasurer

Chief Investment Officer

State of Louisiana

Department of the Treasury

 

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