US jobless claims jump to highest level since April

[The Northerner]

WASHINGTON (AFP) – New claims for US jobless benefits rose unexpectedly last week to the highest level since April, the government said on Thursday, underscoring concerns unemployment could scuttle the economic recovery.

Initial claims climbed 4.1 percent to 479,000 in the week to July 31, the Labor Department said, baffling most analysts who had expected claims to fall to 455,000.

"The initial claims level was a clear disappointment," analysts at Briefing.com wrote to clients.

It reflects "a recovery that is losing steam," added economist Andrew Gledhill at Moody's Economy.com.

Initial claims ended 2009 around 450,000 and have not improved since then even as the economy emerged in the middle of last year from a brutal recession.

"With limited hiring by the private sector, it is becoming increasingly difficult for the recovery to be sustained," Gledhill said.

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20100805/bs_afp/useconomyunemployment

[SammyWinstonJack]

1. Terrific.

:puke:

[valerief]

2. The private sector, the ones getting the huge tax breaks from our congresswhores,

are hiring. Just not in our country.

[napi21]

3. I wonder what caused a jump NOW? Most of the time we can

trace back to a cause but I haven't heard any yet. I wonder if this is a reflection of all those temp census worker jobs ending?

[lib2DaBone]

4. They cut Unemployment Insurance and went on vacation....2 times

I wonder where all these jobs are that the Republicans keep telling me are out there and that I/m too lazy to take?

I have sent out thousands of resumes.. put hundreds of miles on my car and burned up two cell phones making calls.. still no job?

Do Republicans live in a different world with more jobs? If they'd tell me where a job is I would go get it.. today?

[WI_DEM]

5. Would congress finally passing extension to unemployment insurance have something to do

with it? after all, lots of people thought they were out of benefits and now they aren't.