by
Patrick McGee
on
July 23 2009, 9:27 AM
After three weeks of dramatic improvement, initial filings for jobless claims rose in the week ending July 18. In line with predictions, 554,000 people filed for first-time unemployment benefits in the week, a 30k increase from the prior week.
This marks the third week that claims have remained below the 600k level, but economists are cautious in speaking about any tangible improvement in the labor market, as the apparent reduction in claims could be due solely to seasonal adjustment issues.