Unemployment
By Tory Barringer | 05/17/2012
Findings released Thursday in Trulia's Metro Movers Report indicated that homebuyers are prioritizing factors like climate above job markets when searching for new homes. The report, which examines home searches from April last year through March this year, showed that long-distance searchers tend to search in areas with higher unemployment and slow job growth if it means a more favorable climate. The report also showed that searchers looking for a home within 100 miles tend to look for suburban or smaller markets.
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By Mark Lieberman, Five Star Institute Economist | 05/17/2012
First time claims were unchanged at 370,000 for the week ended May 12 after the number of initial claims filed for the previous week was revised upward, the Labor Department reported Thursday. Economists had expected initial claims would decrease to 365,000. The Labor Department had initially reported 367,000 claims filed for the week ended May 5. The revision turned that report to an increase of 2,000 from a previously reported decline of 1,000. Continuing claims – reported on a one week lag – increased 18,000 to 3,265,000.
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By Mark Lieberman, Five Star Institute Economist | 05/11/2012
First time claims for unemployment insurance resumed their steady decline dipping 1,000 to 367,000 for the week ended May 5, the Labor Department reported Thursday after the previous week’s total was revised upward by 3,000 to 368,000, the highest level in five months. Economists had expected initial claims would decrease to 366,000. Continuing claims – reported on a one week lag – fell to 3,229,000), a (drop) of 61,000 from the prior week's revised figure of 3,290,000.
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By Ryan Schuette | 05/10/2012
Jittery investors retreated to U.S. Treasury debt this week after upsets in French and Greek elections, a movement that yet again drove mortgage rates to all-time lows. Freddie Mac found Thursday that the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage broke records by falling to 3.83 percent, down from 3.84 percent last week. Finance Web site Bankrate.com, which releases a survey at the same as Freddie each week, found similar results, with the 15-year fixed-rate mortgage hitting 3.2 percent and the jumbo 30-year loan falling to 4.54 percent, both new lows.
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By Mark Lieberman, Five Star Institute Economist | 05/04/2012
The nation added 115,000 jobs in April, far below expectations and a drop from March’s revised payroll growth of 154,000, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Friday. The closely watched unemployment rate dipped again to 8.1 percent – its lowest level since January 2009 (7.8 percent) when President Obama took office – a function of a sharp drop in the nation’s labor force. Payroll gains for February and March were revised, adding 19,000 to the February numbers and 34,000 to March. The average workweek remained at 34.5 hours.
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By Mark Lieberman, Five Star Institute Economist | 05/03/2012
First-time claims fell a surprising 27,000 to 365,000 for the week ended April 28, the Labor Department said Thursday. Revisions drove the prior week's report up by 4,000 to 392,000, the highest level in five months. Economists had expected initial claims would decrease to 378,000. Continuing claims – reported on a one week lag – fell to 3,276,000, a drop of 53,000 from the prior week's revised figure of 3,329,000. The decline in continuing claims was the first in three weeks. The drop in first time claims was the largest since the report for the first week of May 2011.
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By Mark Lieberman, Five Star Institute Economist | 04/26/2012
First time claims for unemployment insurance remained over 380,000 for the third straight week for the week ended April 21, the Labor Department reported Thursday, the highest levels of the year. According to the report there were 388,000 initial claims, down from the revised 389,000 one week earlier.
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By Mark Lieberman, Five Star Institute Economist | 04/19/2012
First time claims for unemployment insurance remained over 380,000 for the second straight week for the week ended April 14, the Labor Department reported Thursday, the highest levels of the year. According to the report there were 386,000 initial claims, down from the revised 388,000 one week earlier The prior week’s report was adjusted upward by 8,000
Economists had expected initial claims would decrease (from the original report) to 365,000.
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By Ryan Schuette | 04/13/2012
The special inspector general for the Troubled Asset Relief Program released a damning report Thursday that said only 3 percent of the funds designated to the hardest-hit homeowners have reached their goals. The report found that only $217.4 million will have helped 30,640 homeowners by 2017, when the Hardest-Hit Fund expires. Seventy-eight percent of HHF funds went to unemployment assistance for homeowners, and nearly 98 percent went to the same or helped reinstate past due amounts, according to the report.
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By Mark Lieberman, Five Star Institute Economist | 04/12/2012
First time claims for unemployment insurance jumped 13,000 to 380,000 for the week ended April 7, the Labor Department reported Thursday, the highest level since the end of January. At the same time the previous week's report was adjusted upward by 10,000, wiping out what had been a four-year low and showing an increase of 4,000 initial claims instead of an originally reported drop of 6,000 for the week ending in late March. Economists had expected initial claims would increase - from the original report - to 359,000. The week-over-week jump in first time claims was the second straight of the year.
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