Bankruptcy

The Latest in Unemployment & Consumer Prices

By Chris Kramer

The Labor Department has released unemployment data for May and the numbers suggest no significant improvement in the nation?s employment landscape?in fact, last week?s numbers marked the largest rise in unemployment since February.

Here?s a look at some of the numbers and how they relate to previous weeks.

• Initial claims: For the week ending May 15th, initial unemployment claims rose to 471,000 from 446,000, an increase of 25,000 from the previous week. The four-week average, too, rose by 3,000.
• This time last year: In this week of 2009, 540,925 initial unemployment claims were made; this year, that number was down slightly, to 407,940, suggesting that the employment situation has improved somewhat since a year ago.
• High & low claim rates: States reporting the highest rate of initial unemployment claims include California, Michigan, New Jersey, Georgia and Puerto Rico; the lowest reported rates came from New York, Kentucky, Connecticut, Missouri and New Hampshire.

The numbers surprised some analysts, who reportedly expected job growth last week. The increase in unemployment rates points to continued uncertainty in the job market, even as the economy generally seems to be recovering.

Possible Explanations

The news may not be all bad, though. In April, as the economy expanded, the official unemployment rate actually grew, not because more jobs were lost, but because more people began actively looking for work, as they perceived the job market was strengthening.

Consumer Price Index for April

The Bureau of Labor Statistics released data this week that show the Consumer Price Index for April 2010 decreased by 0.1 percent, largely fueled by a 1.4 percent decrease in the energy index. Here?s how some other sectors fared:

• The food index rose by 0.2 percent in April, spurred by rises in the price of meat, fish, poultry and eggs.
• The index for all items excluding food and energy remained unchanged.
• The indexes for recreation, airline travel and medical care rose last month, but were balanced by decreases in the indexes for apparel, household furnishings and services.

During the last year, the index for all goods and services has risen by a modest 0.9 percent, which the BLS reports is the smallest 12-month increase seen since 1966.

Additional Resources

Consumer Price Index: April 2010

The Unemployment Situation: April 2010

Full post as published by The Bankruptcy Blog on May 25, 2010 (boomark / email).