Some Mixed Signals From Latest Jobs Numbers
By
Mark Memmott |
NPR
Thursday, November 1, 2012
Job seekers were on line at a career fair in Manhattan back in August.
John Moore
/
Getty Images
Three closely watched employment indicators are out this morning:
-- Unemployment Benefits. There were 363,000 first-time claims for jobless benefits last week, down from 372,000 the week before, the Employment and Training Administration says. So, as they have all year, claims remain in a range between 350,000 and 400,000.
-- Job Growth. "Private sector employment increased by 158,000 jobs from September to October," according to the latest ADP National Employment Report. That follows a gain of 114,000 from August to September, according to the private management consultants.
-- Layoff Plans. "Planned job cuts by U.S.-based employers surged 41 percent in October to 47,724, as a spate of layoff announcements in the wake of weak quarterly earnings reports helped push downsizing activity to its highest level in five months," outplacement consultants Challenger, Gray & Christmas, Inc. say.
So we have some mixed signals.
Things may get clearer, of course, on Friday when the Bureau of Labor Statistics reports the October unemployment rate and its estimate of how many jobs were added to public and private payrolls. A month ago, it said the jobless rate was 7.8 percent in September and that payrolls rose by 114,000 that month.
According to Reuters, economists it has surveyed expect BLS will say there were 125,000 jobs added to payrolls and that the jobless rate edged up to 7.9 percent in October.
Copyright 2024 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.
View this story on npr.org
Follow us for more stories like this
CapRadio provides a trusted source of news because of you. As a nonprofit organization, donations from people like you sustain the journalism that allows us to discover stories that are important to our audience. If you believe in what we do and support our mission, please donate today.
Donate Today