New Jobless Claims Rise Unexpectedly -- Not in the Bakken, North Dakota, USA

Link here.

The number of Americans filing new claims for jobless benefits rose unexpectedly last week, further evidence of a weak labor market just hours before President Barack Obama unveils a plan on job creation in a major address to Congress.

What makes this particularly noteworthy is the news comes during the peak construction season: all those shovel-ready jobs promised by the admininstration should have kicked in by now.


My understanding is that the new jobs bill will be to a) renovate public schools (of course school has already started this year, and those projects won't get off the ground until next summer, at the height of the campaign); and, b) to provide more money for public school teachers to save those jobs (of course school has already started this year, contracts have been signed, and those not teaching have moved on).

The speech is tonight.

Update: originally around $300 billion; overnight up to $400 billion; perhaps by tonight's speech, we can get it up to $1 trillion.