Economic Event | Period | Economic Survey | Actual Reported | Original Prior | Revised Prior |
Initial Jobless Claims | 41503 | 330K | 336K | 320K | 323K |
Continuing Claims | 41496 | 2963K | 2999K | 2969K | 2970K |
The fewest workers in more than five years applied for U.S. unemployment benefits over the past month, indicating the labor market continues to improve. The number of claims in the month ended Aug. 17 declined to 330,500 a week on average, the least since November 2007, a Labor Department report showed today in Washington. Compared with a week earlier, claims rose by 13,000 to 336,000, in line with the median forecast of 48 economists surveyed by Bloomberg. Firings are waning as employers hold on to workers to meet sales, which may be a precursor to bigger gains in payrolls once the effects of federal budget cuts and higher payroll taxes fades in the second half of 2013. Growth in employment, together with rising incomes, will help buoy consumer confidence and spending, which accounts for about 70 percent of the economy.
John Broussard
Assistant State Treasurer
Chief Investment Officer
State of Louisiana
Department of the Treasury
225-342-0013
jbroussard@treasury.state.la.us
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