Jobless claims are down for new claims showing more signs of a recovering labor market
For the sixth straight week, the four week moving average of new claims for unemployment benefits dropped. For the week ending December 11th, the decline amounted to 3,000 resulting in a total for the week of 420,000. This is the lowest it’s been since the summer of 2008, prior to the nation being hit with the financial crisis.
The hope is that the government’s November report on employment, a disappointing one, will be revised higher and show payrolls increased by more than just the 39,000 originally stated. Either that or a hope that the December figures will show a healthy gain to match what appears to be a recovering labor market.
In a related sector used to gauge the health of the overall economy, housing experienced a few gains of it’s own, despite too much inventory being on hand to really jump start a housing recovery. New house starts increased 3.9% in November according to the Commerce Department. Construction of single family homes drove the increase with a 6.9% rise, a six month high.
Experts anticipate it will be quite some time before the housing market fully recovers. New home construction will remain depressed until inventory from bank foreclosures and houses not moving decreases significantly. Pockets of the country, such as the Midwest, are showing signs of growth, but nowhere near enough to impact the overall national stats.
