Jobless Claims Going From Bad To Worse: 500,000

[marmar]

from 247WallStreet:



Jobless Claims Going From Bad To Worse: 500,000
Posted: August 19, 2010 at 8:38 am


The Labor Department is out with its latest round of weekly jobless claims. It is uglier than a hat full of toes and fingers. The new figure was 500,000 for the most recent weak, a move that is not just going back in the wrong direction. This will make the unemployment reading even worse if it is sustained. Bloomberg had consensus data from economists looking for an implied drop of 4,000 to 480,000 new claims.

The data from last week was revised to an even worse 488,000 versus an initial read of a gain of 2,000 to 484,000. That was already the highest reading in months. Now we are back to having a 500,000 handle rather than a 400,000 handle.

The four-week average, which aims to smooth out the one-week issues, came to a gain of 8,000 to 482,500 after being at 473,500 on a preliminary basis last week.

The army of unemployed, measured by the continuing claims was reported as a drop of 13,000 to 4,478,000 million this week. Continuing claims did fall by 118,000 last week to 4,452,000 on a preliminary unrevised basis. The problem is that the revised level was 4,491,000, so that drop is misleading.

Last week’s statement still stands. “The beatings will continue whether morale improves or not.” The arguments for the case of a double-dip recession will have a stronger voice than the slow recovery crowd today.

-- JON C. OGG


http://247wallst.com/2010/08/19/jobless-claims-going-from-bad-to-worse-500000/#ixzz0x3gBH7ty

[mike r]

1. This is terrible news

especially for job seekers.

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

2. "...for the most recent weak..."

Freudian slip?

[KharmaTrain]

3. Not A Good Sign For Fourth Quarter...

Credit remains tight as a drum as the consumer market remains stagnant or depressed...a chicken and egg thing has occured as businesses don't want to spend and expand as long as consumer demand is low and that demand can't rise until that market is working and able to spend or get credit. Much of it is the corporates own doing but it's the workers who are suffering.

The government needs to step up and provide lines of credit...low cost loans to small and medium business...and a tax holiday or decution on payroll taxes for start-ups would be a nice incentive as well. Leaving it to the short-sighted corporates to turn things around is a fool's dream. Most have no allegience to this country and many have outright disdain for the American worker. It's time to reward those have tried to stand up against the giants, are the source of not only jobs but innovation and led the way in the economic boom of the 90s. Seems this administration forgot that part of history.

[ixion]

4. lines of credit is not going to solve the problem...

Jobs and a robust economy would, however.

[KharmaTrain]

8. Credit Lines Create Jobs...

Expecting the government to come up with some massive New Deal works program may be a short-term solution (as it was in the 30s) but it's the rebuilding of the consumer and manufacturing base that is the key to any true economic recovery. The way this gets rolling is through the avaiability of businesses to borrow...to ramp up production that adds jobs...and the more jobs and people working, the more consumers are out buying and helping restore that robust economy. We have a great opportunity to develop a green sector...thousands, if not millions, of long term jobs in the development and manufacture of alternative energy sources and products. What's missing? Credit...available money to build the infrastructure to bring these products to market. Open up low cost government loans along with payroll tax holiday and deduction could help spark a new boom in jobs and innovation...and with it a very robust economy.

Cheers...

[bvar22]

9. Consumer DEMAND creates JOBS.

NOBODY creates JOBS or "ramps up production" simply because they have access to money.
THAT is a Reagan Republican Supply Side Trickle Down Fallacy.

[fasttense]

5. We don't need loans, we need customers.

I can get all the loans in the world. My credit rating is out the roof. But if I get a loan I can't pay off, what good is the loan?

Every cent I make is going to pay on something just to keep surviving. A loan would NOT help one least little bit.

New customers willing to pay good prices for my produce would certainly help. With increase sales, I could hire a couple of people that we need to expand. I could buy some new equipment. But a loan will only put me into a hole I can not fill.

[KharmaTrain]

7. More Capital Means More Customers...

Congratulations on keeping your credit clean and having the ability to borrow. That's not the case with many people I speak with. I work in an industry where you have many upfront costs and the revenues follow thus loans are needed to keep the cash flows moving...to pay people upfront for money that may not be collected for 60 or 90 days. It's needed to tide over slow periods until the things pick up during the holidays. Right now those loans are tough to find...or require a large collatoral. To add insult, I still keep hearing of people who have had their loans called or cancelled...no matter how many years they've done business this way or how good their credit ratings are...they became victims of the bad business practices around them.

Without a robust consumer market...people with jobs, disposible incomes and access to credit (without the obscene 25% late fees) new customers will be hard to find. The credit crunch has strangled this economy and as more people go bankrupt the problem will continue to get worse.

[Turbineguy]

6. Can we please have

a double dip? Please?