A range of 300,000 to 350,000 is considered healthy. (Source: U.S. Department of Labor)
By Laura Conaway
Good morning, or what passes for it.
The U.S. economy was shrinking at annualized rate of 1 percent in the second quarter of this year, the Bureau of Economic Analysis reports today. The bureau confirmed the advance number it gave on July 31 for U.S. gross domestic product, or GDP, which measures all economic activity. That advance figure often changes in later reports, but not this time. In the first quarter, the economy was shrinking at a yearly clip of 6.4 percent.
New seasonally adjusted claims for unemployment insurance fell last week to 570,000, from a revised figure of 580,000 the week before, the Department of Labor reports. This decline ended two straight weeks of rising claims, after six weeks of falling.
The four-week moving average, generally a less volatile number, fell by 4,750 to 566,250. That's 90,000 lower than the peak in April. Economists consider a healthy number of new weekly claims to be between 300,000 and 350,000.
After the jump, the bigger picture on unemployment.
Today's report from the Department of Labor shows that the number of people on regular unemployment benefits is 6.13 million, down from 6.25 million the week before and the smallest number since April. Another 2.9 million people were receiving Emergency Unemployment Compensation, a federally funded program that allows for 33 additional weeks of benefits in high-unemployment states. The average job search now lasts 25.1 weeks. The category of those out work longer than 27 weeks was the only duration to show a marked increase.
Overall unemployment fell by .1 percent in July, to 9.4 percent.
categories: Employment, Morning Report
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