Jobs

Initial jobless claims came in at 639,000, down significantly from 670,000 the week before. This is one positive in a sea of bad news regarding the employment market. It does not mean that tomorrow's unemployment number will be good. Expect…

The widely followed ADP Employer Services jobs report shows that 697,000 jobs were lost last month, suggesting a very large unemployment number when the government data is released on Friday. I have indicated in the past that seasonal…

The jobs picture is looking grim. Jobless claims for the week ending 14 Feb 2009 were 627,000, pushing the average to 619,000. Additionally, nearly 5 million people are staying on the unemployment roles, the highest figure ever. But, it…

Jobless claims for the week ended February 7th came in at 623,000, pushing the 4-week average above 600,000 for the first time since 1982. This is a clear indication that the U.S. jobs picture remains weak. Further evidence of this…

While job losses of 598,000 in today's report for January 2009 were more than the 525,000 expected, it was within the expected range. Evidence of this comes from the increase in long-term treasury yields and stock futures prices immediately…

U.S. initial jobless claims soared to yet another 26-year high, registering 626,000 for the week ending January 31st. The continuing claims number was equally dreadful, hitting an all-time high of 4.79 million.

A survey in China has determined that job losses amongst migrant workers are three times worse than had been reported. In fact, 20 million workers in China have already lost employment.

Evidence that companies think that much of the downdraft in the economy represents a structural shift to a lower revenue base instead of a cyclical shift comes from the enormous goodwill writedowns companies are taking.  Case and point is…

Seasonal adjustments for jobless claims are wearing off, but the uptick in claims remains. U.S. Jobless claims for the week ended January 24th came in at 588,000, up slightly from the previous week. Meanwhile, continuing claims reached a…

This past week, jobless claims settled in at a level near 600,000 after a few weeks of decline due largely to seasonal adjustments. Jobless claims were 589,000 while continuing claims were 4,607,000.