The number of Americans seeking unemployment benefits rose to a seasonally adjusted 367,000 last week, a rise of 4,000 from the previous week. The four-week average, a less volatile measure, was unchanged at 375,000.
Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke told a local lunch crowd that he expects the economy to keep growing, but he said the growth is so slow that it could create a "permanent group" of underemployed Americans.
The number of Americans seeking unemployment benefits plunged to its lowest level in nine weeks. Other economic figures released Thursday were mainly disappointing.
The Labor Department said Thursday that applications for unemployment benefits declined by 3,000 last week, to 382,000. The four-week average, a less volatile measure, rose for the fifth straight week, to 377,750, the highest level in nearly three months.
The Federal Reserve unleashed a series of bold and open-ended steps Thursday designed to stimulate the economy by boosting the stock market and making it cheaper for people to borrow and spend. Stocks surged after the announcement.
The unemployment rate fell to 8.1 percent from 8.3 percent in July, the Labor Department said Friday. But that was only because more people gave up looking for work. Hourly pay fell, manufacturers cut the most jobs in two years and the number of people in the work force dropped to its lowest level in 31 years.
A long-anticipated plan to support struggling countries in the European Union provided the necessary jolt, and the gains were extraordinarily broad.
The number of Americans filing first-time applications for unemployment benefits climbed last week to a one-month high, showing little progress in the labor market.
The recession that ended three years ago this summer has been followed by the feeblest economic recovery since the Great Depression. Growth has never been weaker in a postwar recovery. Consumer spending has never been so slack. Only once has job growth been slower.
U.S. employers added 163,000 jobs in July, the Labor Department said Friday, a somewhat hopeful sign after three months of sluggish hiring. However, the unemployment rate rose to 8.3 percent, up from 8.2 percent in June.
The 1.5-percent growth rate in the second quarter was the weakest since the economy expanded at a 1.3-percent rate in the July-September quarter last year. The U.S. economy has never been so sluggish this long into a recovery.
U.S. employers created only 69,000 jobs in May, the fewest in a year, and the unemployment rate rose to 8.2 percent, up from 8.1 percent in April, the first increase in 11 months.
Indiana’s unemployment rate dropped to 7.9 percent in April, falling below 8 percent for the first time since November 2008. The rate has dropped for five straight months.
Indiana’s jobless rate is the lowest it’s been since December 2008 and matches the national jobless rate for March, also at 8.2 percent.
A fast-growing Indianapolis bank that became one of the biggest U.S. Small Business Administration lenders in the state has returned to profitability after a harrowing stretch of massive losses from borrower defaults that nearly led to its failure.
Nearly two-thirds of Hoosier business owners in a new survey said they are optimistic or moderately optimistic about the Indiana economy over the next six months. But high gas prices may dampen the enthusiasm.
The job market slowed in March as companies hit the brakes on hiring amid uncertainty about the economy's growth prospects. The unemployment rate fell slightly, but mostly because more Americans stopped looking for work.
Bureau of Labor Statistics revises numbers, but region is still 30,000 jobs short of pre-recession peak.
U.S. employers added 227,000 jobs in February to complete three of the best months of hiring since the recession ended.
Leading indicators for Indiana’s economy are looking up: Banks are increasing lending, real estate developers are pulling the trigger on long-shelved projects, manufacturers are expanding, and consumers are even buying big-ticket items, including automobiles.
