Jobless Claims Fall More Than Expected for Week Ending August 13

“Additionally, payroll jobs have increased during the year, with the state averaging 8,000 job gains per month”.

“The unemployment claims data point to continued low layoff rates and a solid pace of job growth”, said John Ryding, chief economist at RDQ Economics in NY.

The number of employed Georgians grew by 19,242 to 4,639,363.

WASHINGTON-The number of Americans filing new applications for unemployment benefits declined last week and continued to hover at a low level consistent with a strengthening labor market. The Labor Department said Thursday that initial claims for jobless benefits dropped 4,000 to a seasonally adjusted 262,000 for the week ended August 13. Adding positions were professional and business services, trade, transportation and warehousing, leisure and hospitality, education and health services, construction, manufacturing, government and financial services.

The Michigan jobless rate in July 2016 was seven-tenths of a percentage point below the state’s July 2015 rate of 5.2%. The primary job loser was information services.

There were no special factors impacting this week’s initial claims and no state was triggered “on” the Extended Benefits program during the week ending July 30. Several officials want to hold off on the rate increase until a clear indication that inflation would reach the Fed’s two percent target as revealed, while others see the US economy as being near a full recovery and feel that a rate hike could help keep the economy from overheating.

July’s job growth was “impressive, and gains were broad-based across industries”, Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta President Dennis Lockhart said Tuesday.

The U.S. dollar was trading lower against a basket of currencies after the data, while prices for U.S. government debt edged up. Year over year, however, first-time claims were up by only 152.