jobs

washingtonpost.com — The number of people filing new jobless claims jumped unexpectedly last week, while those continuing to receive benefits hit a 10th straight record-high. Both figures show the labor market remains weak and is unlikely to recover anytime soon.The Labor Department said that initial claims for unemployment insurance rose to a seasonally adjusted 669,000 from the previous week's revised figure of 657,000. That total was above analysts' expectations and the highest in more than 26 years, though the work force has grown by about half since then. The tally of laid-off workers claiming benefits for more than a week rose 161,000 to 5.73 million, setting a record for the 10th straight week. That also was above analysts' expectations and indicates that unemployed workers are having difficulty finding new jobs.

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usatoday.com — Delinquencies on consumer loans continued to rise at the end of the year, according to data released by the American Bankers Association. The delinquency rate during the fourth quarter of 2008 across multiple consumer loans increased to 3.22%. It is the highest delinquency rate since the ABA began tracking the data in the 1970s. The delinquency rate was 2.90% during the third quarter. Job losses during were the primary reason for the rise in loan delinquencies during the quarter, says James Chessen, the ABA's chief economist. "Job losses have really hurt the economy and will continue to inflict pain for several months," Chessen said. "The greater the losses are, the more severe an impact it has on all credit markets."

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washingtonpost.com — Private employers slashed a record number of jobs last month, a sign that while the economy appears to be pulling out of its tailspin, a recovery is still far off. U.S. companies shed 742,000 jobs in March, payroll services company ADP said, far more than forecasters had been expecting and a bad omen for tomorrow's report on the nation's unemployment rate. That figure will almost certainly rise above its current level of 8.1 percent. The rate of job losses remains brisk because employers are ratcheting down production and shrinking their workforces to match the sharp fall in consumer demand in recent months. The economy has shed more than 600,000 jobs in each month since December. Analysts expect tomorrow's data to show that March was no different.

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