New US unemployment insurance claims held just above the 400,000 line for a third week straight, the Labor Department said Thursday, despite government efforts to push the unemployment rate down.
Initial jobless claims in the week ending October 22 were 402,000, down from 404,000 the previous week and 409,000 the week before that.
The claims, a signal of the pace of layoffs in the private and public sector, have stubbornly hovered above 400,000 for most of the year, helping to keep the nationwide unemployment rate over nine percent.
With some 14 million unemployed, a total of 6.68 million were claiming unemployment benefits in the week to October 8 -- the latest week tabulated -- compared to 6.69 million a week earlier and 8.5 million a year earlier, the Labor Department said.
© Copyright AFP Agence France-Presse GmbH - All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or distributed. All reproduction or redistribution is expressly forbidden without the prior written agreement of AFP.
KATALOG FIRM W INTERNECIE
