Unemployment Benefits Applications Jump 9,000 to 429,000 Claims
- Posted on June 23, 2011 at 8:47am by
Jonathon M. Seidl
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WASHINGTON (AP) — More Americans applied for unemployment benefits last week, adding to evidence that the job market is weakening.
The Labor Department says applications rose by 9,000 to a seasonally adjusted 429,000 last week. It was the second increase in three weeks and the biggest jump in a month. Applications have been above 400,000 for 11 straight weeks.
Applications dipped below 400,000 in February and stayed below that threshold for seven of the following nine weeks. Applications fell as low as 375,000, a level that signals sustainable job growth. But applications surged in April to an eight-month high of 478,000 and have shown only modest improvement since that time.
Companies pulled back on hiring in the spring in the face of higher gas and food prices. That has cut into consumer spending on other discretionary items, such as furniture and appliances, which boost economic growth.
Employers added only 54,000 net new jobs in May, much slower than the average gain of 220,000 per month in the previous three months. The unemployment rate rose to 9.1 percent from 9 percent in April.
The economy needs to generate at least 125,000 jobs per month just to keep up with population growth. And at least twice that many jobs are needed to bring down the unemployment rate.
The Federal Reserve acknowledged on Wednesday that the economy has slowed in recent months. Fed officials also said in a statement summing up their two-day meeting that “recent labor market indicators have been weaker than anticipated.”
As a result, the Fed reduced its forecast for employment and growth this year. It projects that unemployment at the end of 2011 will be around 8.6 percent to 8.9 percent. That’s more pessimistic than its forecast from two months ago, which had put the unemployment rate at 8.4 percent to 8.7 percent by year’s end.
That pessimism is also seen in projections by private economists. According to an Associated Press Economy survey last week, the nation will add only about 1.9 million jobs this year and the unemployment rate will fall to only 8.7 percent at the end of the year.
The Fed on Wednesday left a key interest rate unchanged at near zero percent and repeated a pledge to keep rates exceptionally low for “an extended period.”
Fed officials said in a statement that they think the main causes of the economy’s slowdown, such as high gas prices and supply disruptions from Japan’s disasters, are temporary. Once those problems subside, Fed officials said the economy should rebound.
But at a news conference after the statement was released, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke acknowledged that some of the problems slowing the economy could persist into next year. He cited continued weakness in the financial sector and persistent problems in the housing market.
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Comments (84)
EqualJustice
Posted on June 23, 2011 at 11:01amGet it while the gettin’s good!
Report Post »affinnity
Posted on June 23, 2011 at 10:55amYou are advertising a website which is against the rules.
Report Post »Rickfromillinois
Posted on June 23, 2011 at 10:47amEveryone seems to be missing the obvious. This is Bush’s fault. Don’t believe me? Just wait, Mr. Obama will tell you that I am right.
Report Post »Richard Compton
Posted on June 23, 2011 at 10:43amI wonder how long it will be before the Obama administration begins to count the unemployed as government workers. They are getting government money therefore they are technically government workers. I know it’s a stretch but consider those doing the real stretching. i.e. Obama! Isn’t this what Nancy wants to do anyway count unemployed as workers etc.
Report Post »searcher
Posted on June 23, 2011 at 10:42amso we’re losing an average of 415K (415,000) jobs per week, thats a total close to 1 million (1,000,000) jobs per month and the unemployment numbers remain unchanged. Talk about a magic act.
Report Post »I.Gaspar
Posted on June 23, 2011 at 10:26amEvery time these numbers come out they should have Plughead biden give a press conference to remind us we are now in “the summer of recovery”-year 2.
Report Post »Let’s vote them all into the unemployment line.
Darla_K
Posted on June 23, 2011 at 9:57amWe need someone leading our country with a financial brain and common sense. This administration we have now is the bottom of the barrel derlicts that is destroying us. I can’t believe a word they say, I can’t trust anything they do, and it will only get worse. 2012 cannot get here fast enough for me. God help us…
Report Post »cntrlfrk
Posted on June 23, 2011 at 9:40amObama just announced they are going to release 30 Million barrels of oil from the Strategic Oil Reserves.
WTF???
.
Report Post »cntrlfrk
Posted on June 23, 2011 at 9:36amObama’s War on Prosperity enjoys another milestone accomplishment!
Yay! Obama!
4 more years!
.
Report Post »teddrunk
Posted on June 23, 2011 at 9:28amBiden announces “Recovery Summer 2, The Search For Recovery Summer 1″
Report Post »NOBALONEY
Posted on June 23, 2011 at 9:26amIsn’t it about tome for the flotilla to show? President Obama needs a deflection from the miserable economic news. and the fact that he and Vice President Biden, haven’t got a clue.
Report Post »SchenectadyScott
Posted on June 23, 2011 at 9:28amRight on the mark…they need another weiner story every week at this pace……
Report Post »bobidt
Posted on June 23, 2011 at 9:26amWhy aren’t these jackasses in the unemployment line? They clearly don’t know how to do anything? They must all be on make work jobs that they want for everyone else. Eliminate the Dept. of Labor (& Ed. & Energy & HUD & EPA & Etc.) and watch the country take off. U want people 2 go to work? Eliminate the mess created by Washington!!!
Report Post »sbenard
Posted on June 23, 2011 at 9:18amThis figure is actually somewhat worse even than it appears. Each week when they release the numbers, it has disappointed the market regularly in recent months. However, the following week, the revise those figures once the news media has forgotten about it, and the revisions are almost always WORSE. But they always report the new figures from an UPWARDLY-revised perspective. It’s pure propaganda!
Yesterday, we learned that negotiators dealing with the debt ceiling under VP Biden’s so-called “leadership” are considering mandating a new method of computing inflation that will artificially suppress the reporting of inflation. They are already doing this since Clinton/Greenspan began doctoring the inflation data, but this proposal would make it even worse. It would allow politicians to print money and create even MORE inflation, all while pushing incomes into higher tax brackets at the same time. Write your Congressional representatives to tell them to reject this. It is bad for EVERYONE, but is under serious consideration nonetheless.
Stocks have plunged overnight, with the S&P down about 18 points, and the Dow down about 120 in the futures. Our debt is destroying us!
Report Post »MONICNE
Posted on June 23, 2011 at 9:54amYou are absolutely right. If the American public would pay down the debt things would be good again like they were under Clinton.
Report Post »wodiej
Posted on June 23, 2011 at 9:04amBeen unemployed 17 months and it’s not looking good for the near future. Thankfully I had enough sense to save money to get me through.
Report Post »SchenectadyScott
Posted on June 23, 2011 at 9:13amI am right along with you…I got hit in 2008..Worked 23 years straight without job loss..Went back to school for an alternative energy degree for a GE Storage Battery job..And they rejected me..I was one of two that graduated from the new program with high GPA, the other guy has a Masters in Math and we both were rejected…This was three months after Obama’s visit to the GE plant..I have over 20 years manufacturing experience and the degree in the GE designed course and I was rejected…So much for these Green jobs.I don’t belong to the right party in my city.I am an independent/no party..If I was a Dem they would of hired me…And this is the truth….still no job…I am going to keep going to school…
Report Post »MONICNE
Posted on June 23, 2011 at 9:31amScott we are all praying for you. Do you think there should be guarantees in life? Just work real hard, so GE productivity increases and that is the American Dream.
Report Post »Anonymous T. Irrelevant
Posted on June 23, 2011 at 10:32amWho are you praying to? You don’t mean to tell me that you actually believe in God/Jesus?
Report Post »GE’s productivity will only help the country it is manufacturing in. IF they are manufacturing in another country, then no tax money comes to the US (not that GE pays any taxes anyway), no jobs in the US, so it doesn’t help our citizens.
Didn‘t he just tell you that he didn’t get the GE job? Why would you tell him to work real hard so GE productivity increases? That is mean and “mean sucks,” according to a liberal bumper sticker.
Slayer
Posted on June 23, 2011 at 9:02amThe Obama juggernaut against America, Capitalism, our economy and our way of life continues unabated.
Report Post »Slayer
Posted on June 23, 2011 at 9:01amDemocrats Own The Economy – Debbie Wasserman Schultz
Report Post »teddrunk
Posted on June 23, 2011 at 9:12amHey, Brillohead Debbie loves this thriving economy.
Report Post »NJTMATO
Posted on June 23, 2011 at 9:01am“Fed officials said in a statement that they think the main causes of the economy’s slowdown, such as high gas prices and supply disruptions from Japan’s disasters, are temporary. Once those problems subside, Fed officials said the economy should rebound”
Interesting! When I read Bernake’s remarks yesterday…and heard clips on the radio on the way home from work (yes, I DO have a non-gov’t job) I kept hearing him say more than once, that something they “expected” didn’t happen, i.e. job growth, housing market improvement….. So, when the Fed officials say that the economy SHOULD rebound, they are HOPING and that is NOT a strategy! Of course the economy should rebound, but it won’t … not till we DO something correctly, and that won’t be till after November, 2012. In the meantime, I’m hoping for the best and preparing for the worst.
Report Post »Gonzo
Posted on June 23, 2011 at 9:00amBernake was saying yesterday that unemployment would be down to close to 8% by the election. None of these guys have a clue what it will be.
Report Post »SpankDaMonkey
Posted on June 23, 2011 at 8:59am.
Report Post »If I remember correctly we rounded up the Germans and the Japanese at one time. I think it’s time we round up Obama and the Uneducated mass that elected him, them spay and neuter the whole lot of them.
Then in a few years there will be more clean air for the rest of us………….
affinnity
Posted on June 23, 2011 at 10:45amThey’ve been offering to abort themselves out of existence for well over thirty years and we keep arguing with them and begging them not to. We don’t need to do anything except maintain political control and let them commit suicide.
Report Post »SchenectadyScott
Posted on June 23, 2011 at 8:56amGeez…may be they can move the census to every year instead of every 10…That way they can create jobs the only way they know how to…through taxpayer dollars…pretty sad state of affairs we have here in the good old USA…..:(
Report Post »thinkhard64
Posted on June 23, 2011 at 8:56amThat is the hope and change and stimulus he was talking about,now don’t all the lib kooks feel better!! LOL
Report Post »tonkaslim
Posted on June 23, 2011 at 8:54amUnexpectedly.
Report Post »TexasCommonSense
Posted on June 23, 2011 at 8:53amFrom the Summer of recovery to the Summer of “What the !@#$”.
Report Post »Texas Grasshopper
Posted on June 23, 2011 at 9:10am@ Texascommonsense
Dont worry Obama has a plan for us :
To those urging the president to cut the mission short and withdraw forces at a more rapid pace, Obama affirmed that his interest is “nation-building here at home,” not in Afghanistan
isnt that reassuring ? nation-building here in America …I would think that would be all the news but havent heard a word about it . So what now Military patrol and civilian projects and political overseer’s ? ..ty this into his numerous past statements and policies concerning the financial system , unemployemnt , housing etc. here in These United States. Just thought i would cheer you up *L*
Report Post »cowdude
Posted on June 23, 2011 at 9:22amI haven’t filed yet but I may need a vacation soon and sure would like to see OBAMA “own this economy”!
Cowdude
Report Post »http://conservativewatercooler.com
TexasCommonSense
Posted on June 23, 2011 at 9:49amTexas Grass Hopper, I feel and warm and fuzzy now.
Cow Dude, I’ll be on vacation next week. Time to catch up on some honey-dos and spend time with the kids. I‘m sure I can squeeze in time to laugh at Obama’s lame attempts to “fix” things.
Report Post »nomercy63
Posted on June 23, 2011 at 8:52amIs it summer recovery 1 or 2 I cant keep track?? I maxed out all my credit cards, 6 months behind house payment , overdrawn at the bank by thousands, writing hot checks everywhere, I haven’t made a car payment in a year and hide the car so tow truck wont get it. I called the bank and told them I am in a summer of recovery they just said it is just fine don’t worry about it.
The above was not true for me but folks I know!!!
Report Post »MONICNE
Posted on June 23, 2011 at 3:31pmBlazers are among the country’s smartest, most diligently aware and most patriotic citizens.
Reading all your Boo-Bird comments can get a girl depressed!
Report Post »wewantchillywilly
Posted on June 23, 2011 at 8:51amhey, that number easily could have been an increase of 100,000 if not for the stimuli.
We Own It!
Report Post »Anonymous T. Irrelevant
Posted on June 23, 2011 at 8:53amMore fodder for the Republican campaign ads, too.
Report Post »MONICNE
Posted on June 23, 2011 at 9:01amThis is wonderful news, these families are blessed and this is the greatest nation in the known universe.
Report Post »The_Almighty_Creestof
Posted on June 23, 2011 at 9:10amWould it not cost us less if we said that after 6 months you have not found and accepted a job that pays an amount similar to your unemployment benefit …you have to join the armed forces? They’d get paid, get healthy, get benefits and learn a trade and discipline. They might as well do something with their time rather than playing Nintendo in their underwear and posting on TheBlaze.
Report Post »Snowleopard {gallery of cat folks}
Posted on June 23, 2011 at 9:12amAnd I remember them saying that unemployment would never be above 8%.
Report Post »seeker9
Posted on June 23, 2011 at 9:15amIf we put more of the prog agenda in effect, the situation will improve. HA!
Report Post »PA PATRIOT
Posted on June 23, 2011 at 9:15amHmmmmm.
And the economy is getting better?
The rats are preparing to flee the ship.
“The Fed would be “prepared to take additional action, obviously, if conditions warranted,” including the purchase of more Treasury securities, Bernanke said yesterday after U.S. central bankers met in Washington. The economy will probably overcome constraints from elevated energy prices and Japan- related disruptions to manufacturing, he said. Still, declining home prices, high unemployment and weaknesses in the financial system may restrain the recovery in the longer term, he said. ” Bernanke’s quote says much.
Can you say HELLO NEW TAXES. But wait, Nancy wants us to pass it before we read it.
Report Post »Those who govern by mandate can go to hell.
Washington is a den of thieves.
Susan Harkins
Posted on June 23, 2011 at 9:20amI noticed another thing picking up in numbers, of late.
U-HAUL trucks on the highway. The number died down for a while but now the count is going up again — enough to grab my attention and start counting again, on my 1-hour commute down the highway.
Here we go again — time for QE3.
Report Post »MONICNE
Posted on June 23, 2011 at 9:23am@Almighty Creestoff – Why do you want to lower the bar for our heroic all volunteer armed forces? Is this a plot to degrade their group image and national esteem and then take away their benefits (which are way better than the average WAL-MART civilians get these days) ?? You sir, are a Genius and this has to go to Paul Ryan immediately.
Report Post »MONICNE
Posted on June 23, 2011 at 9:27amHi, PaPatRiot
You are absolutely right! It is time to stop subsidizing any business that makes a Billion profit in any year, and that will directly reduce the Debt, meaning less interest will be due, meaning every small business will begin hiring and executives will start trickling all over the place
Report Post »PA PATRIOT
Posted on June 23, 2011 at 9:41ammonicne aka encinom
Pseudonyms cannot hide your troll roots.
I never said one word about subsidizing Billionaires.
I have NO faith in Washington or those who have served over two terms.
The Federal Government is corrupt.
As I said in the latter post…
Washington is a den of thieves and they can go to hell.
I did say it is time to pick up our bootstraps and
Report Post »lovenfl3
Posted on June 23, 2011 at 9:41amAnd yet the administration and the liberal media keep telling us how great the economy is. These are dangerous times indeed. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NNaZeZBGD2c
Report Post »MONICNE
Posted on June 23, 2011 at 9:56amFolks! Please try to stay upbeat, WE are the Winners! Don’t be so negative – you make it seem as if America is a bad place to live! I ask you – please be patriotic at least a little.
Report Post »TomFerrari
Posted on June 23, 2011 at 10:16amThanks, obama!
Report Post »Thanks for this CHANGE. We REALLY appreciate it.
And, just to show you how appreciative we are, we’ll be voting in November 2012 to show you how we really feel.
Again, Thank you, __________
Marci
Posted on June 23, 2011 at 10:25amYet, Congress wants to raise our taxes to pay for their ridiculous entitlement, cronyism, and special interest spending. Shrimp on a treadmill…..that is ALL.
Report Post »fastfacts
Posted on June 23, 2011 at 10:27amTHIS IS OBAMA’S FAILED ECONOMIC JOBS REPORT
The CBO and Fed showed yesterday that we are not yet in a recovery: ( http://tiny.cc/tdmkz )
- CBO: Stimulus almost doubled U.S. debt
Report Post »- CBO: By 2021 debt would reach 101% of GDP
- CBO Releases Daunting Long-Term Outlook
- CBO: ObamaCare is “Unsustainable”
- CBO: Federal Debt to Hit 70% of GDP This Year
Bonesaw
Posted on June 23, 2011 at 10:27amI fear the only way the extensive damage could be reversed would be to have a hardcore conservative King for 4 years. Go ahead and freak out that I said King, but we’re almost to that point. Congress has become almost irrelevant. Any president can simply abuse the crap out of the “Executive Order”. The current president has ignored congress AND the Federal courts already. He’s behaving the closest thing to a king this nation has ever seen. The only way 9 decades of progressive agenda and legislation can be undone and reboot this nation is with a hardcore conservative king. Just 4 years to rip down all the progressive infrastructure and then return the nation back to the 3 branches. Yes I know it will never happen and I know how dangerous it would be…. just sayin.
Report Post »TomFerrari
Posted on June 23, 2011 at 10:30amIt could have been worse, you know…
obama has now SAVED
1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,002 jobs!
what do you mean there aren’t that many people in the universe? Well, then, you’re a greedy, capitalist, right-winger, extremist, fascist, nazi, wacko, hater, doo-doo-head, slut, meanie, not-nice, six-toed, mouth-breather, knuckle-dragger, inbred, racist, idiot, moron, hater from Alabama or Kentucky. waaah! I‘m tellin’ daddy, you won’t give me stuff! I want you‘re money and you won’t give it to me. waaaah! waaaaah!
Report Post »beekeeper
Posted on June 23, 2011 at 10:30am@Susan Harkins – Your count of U-Hauls is usually a good indicator, as is my own local count of freight trains rolling through my town (mid-way between NYC and PHL), but you need to be careful, now that school is out you’ve got a boom of college students moving out of college and many homeowners will wait to move/relocate until the end of their children’s school year.
It could be something, it might not be…
Report Post »hauschild
Posted on June 23, 2011 at 10:52amAnd we still have fellow citizens on the left believing that liberal, progressive methods work.
Imbeciles.
It’s amazing these people are unable to employ simple arithmetic to deduce what happens as time goes on and fewer and fewer people are contributing and producing. I guess that’s why most liberals opt for government work.
Report Post »DirectlyUnPCman
Posted on June 23, 2011 at 11:08amI thought Obama fixed all this?
Report Post »Sound The Trumpet In Zion
Posted on June 23, 2011 at 11:15amWHAT, we are losing more and more jobs? How could this be? Oh nevermind I remember, obama is still in the White House and he is still keeping the unions in charge. That explains why.
Report Post »masterplan
Posted on June 23, 2011 at 11:39amJust another NWO plan.
The FU elites have all sorts of plans for the population:
The correlation between higher numbers of vaccines and infant mortality figures takes on an altogether more
sinister context
when we consider the fact that during the February 2010 TED conference,
Bill Gates, an enthusiastic proponent of vaccination programs,
openly stated that vaccines should be used to lower global population in the pursuit of reducing CO2 emissions.
Gates is an avowed eugenicist who is committed to drastically reducing the world’s population in the name of combating global warming. This is alarming given the fact that the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation funds the production and distribution of vaccines to the third world
Report Post »sWampy
Posted on June 23, 2011 at 11:41amThis will really help the acorn/aclu/naacp campaigns to get more poor people to have babies, after all according the them, when you are unemployed it’s a great time to have a baby, you are qualified for so many more government programs, get to have quality time staying home smoking dope with your new born, etc.
Report Post »Ookspay
Posted on June 23, 2011 at 1:41pmSomewhere Jimmy Carter is high fiving Billy! Wheeew, no longer the worst!
Report Post »MONICNE
Posted on June 23, 2011 at 3:28pmMany analysts think the increased number of persons looking for work is positive; because there is a public perception that new opportunity is actually out there!
Report Post »silentwatcher
Posted on June 23, 2011 at 4:18pmMust have had some ‘larger then usual’ masses crossing the borders.
Report Post »Skee
Posted on June 23, 2011 at 11:10pmNothing to see here folks, keep moving. Obama is working tirelessly to make sure every stomach is empty and no pot to piss in. Remember Bush bad Obama good.
Report Post »