Originally posted by the Voice of America.
Voice of America content is produced by the Voice of America,
a United States federal government-sponsored entity, and is in
the public domain.


                US Jobless Benefit Claims Drop to Five-Year Low

   by Ken Bredemeier

   U.S. government figures show the number of American workers making
   their first claims for jobless benefits fell last week to the lowest
   level in more than five years.
   The government said Thursday that 326,000 people sought unemployment
   compensation, a drop of 19,000 from the previous week. It is the lowest
   weekly total since January 2008, at the earliest stages of the worst
   U.S. economic downturn since the 1930s.
   The dip in the number of jobless claims - one proxy for the state of
   the country's labor market - signals that employers are laying off
   fewer workers.
   The American economy, the world's largest, advanced a modest 1.7
   percent in the April-to-June period, though the U.S. jobless rate
   remains elevated at 7.6 percent.
   The government is set Friday to release its monthly jobs and employment
   report for July, with analysts predicting the country added another
   183,000 jobs last month, and the unemployment rate dipped to 7.5
   percent. The U.S. has added more than 200,000 jobs a month since
   January.
   Financial analyst Greg McBride at Bankrate.com said the U.S. economy
   needs to add even more jobs before the jobless rate dips significantly.
   "We'll see continued job growth, but it's at a pace that makes for nice
   headlines but really doesn't do much to move the needle in terms of
   getting people back to work. If we see 175,000, 200,000 new jobs, I
   mean that's nice, but you know what we really need to be seeing on a
   consistent basis is something north of 250,000 jobs a month," said
   McBride. "So that we can not only account for population growth, but
   actually get all those unemployed, particularly long-term unemployed,
   back to work, rather than seeing the unemployment rate drop because
   people are giving up their job search altogether."
     __________________________________________________________________

   [1]http://www.voanews.com/content/us-jobless-benefit-claims-drop-to-fiv
   e-year-low/1714858.html

References

   1. http://www.voanews.com/content/us-jobless-benefit-claims-drop-to-five-year-low/1714858.html