In fact, the report was worse than folks would lead you to believe. Analysts forecast that first time claims would drop to 315,000. Not only did they not decrease, first-time claims surged.
Wow, the spin continues. The AP is reporting:
The number of Americans applying for unemployment benefits rose last week to the highest level since February, a dose of mixed news for an economy that appears to be gaining momentum.
The Labor Department said Thursday that a seasonally adjusted 344,000 people applied for benefits, up 14,000 from the previous week and the most since late February.
The less-volatile four-week average rose by 3,000 to 320,000, a figure that's still consistent with a steadily improving job market. The number of people applying for benefits has risen three straight weeks, but Ian Shepherdson, chief economist at Pantheon Macroeconomics, said last week's numbers might have been warped by the Easter holiday.
"We think the underlying trend (in applications) is falling, but only slowly," Shepherdson wrote in a research note.Boiler-plate press release week after week for the past two years:
- for an economy that appears to be gaining momentum
- the less-volatile four-week average
- still consistent with a steadily improving job market
- the underlying trend is falling
- but only slowly
Deeper in the article:
Another Labor Department report shows that layoffs are running nearly 40 percent below their peak in 2009. Though they've stopped cutting jobs, employers have been slower to add new ones: Hiring remains well below pre-recession levels.Six years into the recovery?
Trivia: the AP report did not mention that analysts forecast a fall to 315,000.
