Unemployment benefits claims have jumped to a 16 year high.
With the number of new claims for U.S. jobless benefits hitting a 16-year high, some economists warn of further waves of layoffs in the months ahead.
Even already battered industries such as construction and manufacturing are expected to see more job cuts. Layoffs also are likely to spread to relatively unscathed areas such as retail, transportation and hotels and restaurants.
“I don’t think any of these sectors have reached the bottom,” said Carl Riccadonna, senior U.S. economist at Deutsche Bank.
The bad news just keeps coming in. The bad news for Citigroup, the high in jobless claims hmmm, and yes, the Dow went below 8,000 and seems to heading to go right below 7,000. But never fear, Henry Paulson and Ben Bernanke have a plan and $700 billion (that they borrowed taking even more mony off the credit markets…how that is supposed to help things I don’t know) to keep things from getting really bad.
The Labor Department said Thursday that new claims for jobless benefits rose last week to a seasonally adjusted 542,000 from a downwardly revised figure of 515,000 in the previous week, much higher than Wall Street economists expected.
That is also the highest level of claims since July 1992, the department said, when the U.S. economy was emerging from a recession. The four-week average of claims, which smooths out fluctuations, was even worse: It rose to 506,500, highest in more than 25 years.
I’m sure Barack Obama will get into office and get this mess straightened out right away. After all he is the President and President’s have such amazing power over the U.S. economy. Just ask George Herbert Walker Bush or Jimmy Carter.
