Jobless Benefit Rolls in U.S. Reach 3.52 Million, Highest Level Since 2003

from Bloomberg:



U.S. Initial Jobless Claims Fall to 445,000 Last Week (Update1)

By Bob Willis

Sept. 11 (Bloomberg) -- More Americans than forecast filed initial claims for unemployment insurance last week, while total benefit rolls rose to the highest level in almost five years, as companies cut staff to maintain profits in a slowing economy.

First-time jobless claims fell to 445,000 in the week ended Sept. 6 from a revised 451,000 the prior week that was more than initially reported. The number of people staying on rolls rose 122,000 to 3.525 million, the highest since October 2003.

The labor market is weakening as the biggest housing recession in a generation spills over to the broader economy, slowing demand and causing a surge in financial losses. Economists surveyed by Bloomberg News this month forecast consumer spending in the current quarter slowed to the weakest pace since 1992.

``The upward trend in initial jobless claims paints a bleak picture of the labor market,'' Ryan Sweet, a senior economist at Moody's Economy.com in West Chester, Pennsylvania, said before the report. ``Rising joblessness will hurt spending further and threatens to magnify the troubles in financial and housing markets.''

Treasuries, which had risen earlier in the day, stayed higher. Benchmark 10-year note yields were at 3.58 percent at 8:39 a.m. in New York, from 3.63 percent late yesterday. Futures on the Standard & Poor's 500 Stock Index dropped 1.5 percent to 1,214.70. ......(more)

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