Initial Jobless Claims Fall & Private Sector Jobs Added:
The number of Americans filing for new jobless claims fell.
The Labor Department reported today (July 7, 2011) initial jobless claims fell by a marginal 11,000. The slight gains aren’t enough to push the economy forward although this number might be higher than some economists were expecting.
Initial jobless claims decreased 11,000 to 418,000 from the prior week. Last week, initial jobless claims fell by 1,000 which keeps the jobless rate rangebound above 400,000, a number we said we would be concerned about in 2010.
ADP Says Private Sector Jobs Grew
ADP released data on private sector jobs today but we take several months of ADP data and use a weighted average with available Labor Department numbers to approximate employment growth. ADP data is most useful to us directionally for establishing trends.
ADP data showed private sector employment increased by 157,000 jobs from May to June. This number may not be sticky.
