Jobless Claims Fall, With Job Seekers Encouraged as Hiring Climbs
The real story behind the latest jobs numbers may be that those who had given up their job searches are resuming their hunt for employment.
Jobless claims unexpectedly fell by 14,000 last week to a seasonally-adjusted 289,000. Ronald Richman, partner at Schulte Roth & Zabel and co-head of the Employment and Employee Benefits Group, breaks down the numbers behind the numbers. As July was the sixth consecutive month that U.S. employers added 200,000 or more jobs, hiring is up but the unemployment rate edged up in July to 6.2% as more workers joined the labor force. Richman says the real story behind this seemingly conflicting data is that those who have given up their job searches are resuming their hunt for employment as positive data about the labor market makes them encouraged.
