“É o preconceito contra a flexibilização que tem conduzido a salários baixos”

[Info....]

ECONOMIC REPORT: U.S. initial claims fall back to 337,000; Decrease not due to volatility surrounding hurricanes
By Rex Nutting, CBS.MarketWatch.com
Last Update: 8:34 AM ET Oct. 7, 2004

WASHINGTON (CBS.MW) - First-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits dropped unexpectedly by 37,000 to 335,000 in the week ending Oct. 2, the Labor Department said Thursday.

The decline in initial claims was not due to the volatility surrounding recent hurricanes that have battered Florida and other Southeast states, a Labor Department spokesman said.

Storm-battered states continued to have elevated levels of initial claims in the most recent data, the spokesman said. Layoffs declined elsewhere in the nation.

Economists were expecting a decline to about 353,000, according to a survey conducted by CBS MarketWatch.

The more reliable four-week moving average of initial claims rose by 4,250 to 348,500, the highest level since February. Economists generally prefer to track the four-week average, since it smoothes out weekly distortions caused by weather and other one-time events.

But many economists have said the recent storms have muddied the view of the underlying fundamentals of the labor market. It will take weeks for the impact of the storms to wash out of the data.

Meanwhile, the number of former workers collecting state unemployment checks fell by 1,000 in the week ending Sept. 25 to 2.86 million, the lowest since mid-July.

The figures come just a day before the Labor Department reports on the September employment report. Economists expect about 140,000 more nonfarm payroll jobs in September after a gain of 144,000 in August.

The impact of the storms on the jobs data could be significant, cutting employment by 100,000 or more, some economists say. Hurricane Ivan landed late in the week used by the Labor Department to survey some 400,000 businesses and 60,000 households to gauge the monthly labor market.

The number of initial claims in the September survey was 18,000 higher than in August, while the level of continuing claims in the September week was 27,000 lower than in August.

Economists have said initial claims in the neighborhood of 340,000 are consistent with monthly job gains of about 150,000 to 250,000. The economy needs to add about 150,000 jobs a month to absorb new entrants and re-entrants into the labor force.

Jobless claims have been relatively steady for months.

The four-week average of initial claims has settled in a range between 335,00 and 345,000 for the past six months after plunging by about 60,000 in the last three months of 2003.

Continuing claims have been near 2.9 million for the past three months after dropping by 600,000 between September 2003 and March, when job growth accelerated.

But job growth has stalled in recent months. Nonfarm payroll gains have averaged 104,000 over the past three months, compared with 295,000 a month from March through May.

Long-term unemployment has been particularly insidious during this business cycle. In August, 1.7 million, or 20.7 percent, of the 8 million workers classified as unemployed had been out of work longer than six months. The average duration of unemployment remained high at 19 weeks.

About 40 percent of those who go on unemployment exhaust their benefits before finding work.

[djovarius]

São bons, até porque já vão terminando os efeitos dos furacões.
Os mercados estão mesmo a aguardar por amanhã.
Há boas perspectivas nos EUA em relação ao emprego, veremos se os números são melhores do que nos últimos 3 meses !!

Um abraço

dj

[donjuan]

Initial jobless claims - 335 mil vs 355 mil esperados
Countinuing claims - 2864 mil vs 2875 mil esperados
É bom!