New claims for jobless benefits jumped by 13,000 to 462,000 for the week ending October 9th. Estimates for the number of new claims ranged from 425,000 to 455,000.
The economy’s refusal to add more jobs more quickly has forced the Federal Reserve to consider further quantitative easing before the end of the year.
“The real problem is a lack of job growth,” Scott Brown, chief economist at Raymond James & Associates, said before the report. “The good news is we’re not seeing the level of layoffs that would be consistent with a double-dip recession. The bad news is we really could be a lot stronger at this point and that’s going to take some time.”
Source: Bloomberg