Weekly Jobless Claims: Better Than Expected, Hold The Party

The Labor Department reported that weekly jobless claims unexpectedly fell by 21,000 to 434,000 in the week ended Oct. 23, the lowest since early July. Additionally, the total number of people receiving unemployment insurance dropped to a two-year low; the number of people receiving extended payments fell; and the four-week moving average of claims fell 122,000 to 4.36 million in the week ended Oct. 16, the lowest since July.

So are we out of the woods on the jobs front and ready to celebrate? Um, not by a long shot, but we'll take slight improvements when they are dumped in our laps, right?

Remember that the last monthly employment report wasn't so great. In fact, there were three worrisome trends from September that still plague us:

1. Part-timers reached 9.5 million, a new record high
2. Broad unemployment rate (U-6) stands at 17.1 percent
3. Long-term unemployed (unemployed for 27 weeks and over) reached 6.123 million, or 4 percent of the civilian workforce and 41.7 percent of unemployed have been jobless for 27 weeks or more

Image by Flickr User foxypar4, CC 2.0

Jill Schlesinger

Jill Schlesinger, CFP® is the Emmy-nominated business analyst for CBS News. She covers the economy, markets, investing and anything else with a dollar sign on TV, radio (including her nationally syndicated radio show), the web and her blog, "Jill on Money." Prior to her second career at CBS, Jill spent 14 years as the co-owner and chief investment officer for an independent investment advisory firm. She began her career as a self-employed options trader on the Commodities Exchange of New York, following her graduation from Brown University.

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