Jobless Claims Rise to 26-Year High
The number of Americans filing for unemployment insurance for the first time rose to a 26-year high on the week ending Dec 21, 2008. This seem to confirm that employers are stepping up job cuts as the worst recession of the recent years deepens.
Initial claims for unemployment benefits rose 5.4 percent to 586,000, the largest number of new claims since November 1982, according to national figures released Wednesday by the U.S Dept. of Labor. The number was higher than economists had predicted and up 30,000 from the Dec. 13 count.
Employers including automakers accelerated firings in the final months of 2008, and job losses for the year are forecast to exceed 2 million. The deteriorating labor market prompted President-elect Barack Obama this week to expand his economic stimulus goals and call for creating or saving 3 million jobs over the next two years.
The Commerce Department said consumers reduced their spending by 0.6 per cent last month, following a 1 per cent drop in October. But the steep plunge in gasoline prices, which is good news for consumers, made the declines look worse.
Excluding price changes, consumer spending would have dropped by 0.5 per cent in October and actually risen by 0.6 per cent in November. The November increase excluding inflation was the best showing in more than three years.
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