NYT/AP: Storm Related Job Losses Top 500,000

[DeepModem Mom]

Storm Related Job Losses Top 500,000
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: October 27, 2005


WASHINGTON (AP) -- The number of people who lost their jobs because of hurricanes Katrina and Rita has now climbed above the half-million mark with further increases expected in coming weeks from Hurricane Wilma.

The Labor Department reported Thursday that an additional 24,000 people who lost jobs because of the devastating Gulf Coast storms filed applications for unemployment benefits last week, pushing the total over the past eight weeks to 502,000 hurricane-related claims.

The weekly job losses from Katrina and Rita peaked at 108,000 in mid-September and have been trending lower since that time. However, analysts said Wilma, which hit Florida on Monday, cutting off power to millions of homes, will likely spark a renewed surge in jobless claims in coming weeks.

In a separate report, the Labor Department said that orders to U.S. factories for big-ticket durable goods fell by 2.1 percent in September, a bigger drop than the 1.5 percent decline economists had been expecting.

Excluding transportation, orders for durable goods, items expected to last at least three years, fell by 1 percent....


http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/business/AP-Economy.html