Posted on 10/23/2003 5:35:12 AM PDT by Brian S
Oct. 23 (Bloomberg) -- The number of Americans filing for unemployment benefits last week matched the lowest in eight months, suggesting companies are retaining more workers as demand strengthens, a government report showed.
First-time jobless claims fell by 4,000 to 386,000 during the week ended Saturday from a revised 390,000 a week earlier, the Labor Department said in Washington. The four-week moving average, a less volatile measure, held at 392,250 for a second straight week.
Companies including United Parcel Service Inc. and 3M Co. are reporting increased demand, and economists estimate the economy grew at the fastest pace in almost four years during the third quarter. That may translate into hiring by year end, helping sustain consumer spending that has powered the recovery, some economists said.
``We have seen strengthening across all our customer base,'' said Scott Davis, chief financial officer of United Parcel Service, the world's largest package-delivery company. ``We will be hiring workers as the volume increases. There has been some of that going on, and I would anticipate more in later November into the holiday season.''
UPS, based in Atlanta, said Tuesday that third quarter profit rose 28 percent, exceeding its forecast, as shipments by manufacturers rose for the first time in three years.
Economists had estimated that claims last week rose to 385,000, based on the median of 41 projections in a Bloomberg News survey, from the originally reported 384,000 in the week before.
Last week's claims matched the total in the week ended Sept. 20, which was the lowest since 378,000 during the week ended Feb. 8.
Benefit Rolls Fall
Benefit applications averaged 402,530 between July 1 and Oct. 11, down from 419,270 in the first half of the year and a peak of 459,000 during the week ended April 19. Some economists consider 400,000 the dividing point between labor market expansion and contraction.
The number of people continuing to collect state unemployment insurance dropped by 84,000 in the week ended Oct. 11 to 3.542 million, the lowest since the same total in the week ended April 5.
The insured unemployment rate, which tends to move with the monthly jobless rate, fell to 2.8 percent in the week before last from 2.9 percent. During that week, 44 states and territories reported an increase in new claims and nine a decrease.
The economy may have expanded at a 6 percent annual rate in the third quarter, based on the median estimate of 52 economists in a Bloomberg News survey, after cash from tax refunds and mortgage refinancing helped boost consumer spending. Such a pace would be the fastest since 7.1 percent in the fourth quarter of 1999. The U.S. added 57,000 jobs in September, the first gain in payrolls in eight months.
Snow's Promise
``The missing piece of the puzzle in the recovery has been business investment, and that's coming on board now,'' said Michael Moran, chief economist at Daiwa Securities America Inc. in New York. Moran made the remarks yesterday in a presentation at a National Association of Home Builders conference in Washington.
U.S. Treasury Secretary John W. Snow told the Times of London in an interview published Monday that he expects job growth to accelerate to about 200,000 new jobs a month.
``I would stake my reputation on employment growth happening before Christmas,'' Snow told the newspaper.
IBM, the world's biggest computer maker, based in Armonk, New York, said third-quarter profit rose 36 percent, helped by a 17 percent gain in services sales and the dollar's decline against other currencies. IBM plans to add 10,000 jobs worldwide next year.
Winnebago, 3M
Winnebago Industries Inc., the largest maker of motor homes by volume, is hiring more workers after sales improved toward the end of its fourth quarter, which concluded in August, Chief Executive Bruce Hertzke said Tuesday. The company is based in Forest City, Iowa.
3M, the maker of Scotch tape and medical inhalers, among other products, said third-quarter earnings increased 22 percent. The company, based in St. Paul, Minnesota, raised its 2003 profit forecast because of lower costs and higher sales.
3M Chairman and Chief Executive Officer James McNerney has eliminated 8,500 jobs and closed 11 plants since he took over in 2001.
``Many firms can meet sizable increases in demand without hiring new workers,'' Richmond Federal Reserve Bank President J. Alfred Broaddus Jr. said Monday in a speech at the Kiwanis Club of Richmond, Virginia. Broaddus said recent economic data increased his optimism about the sustainability of the current economic expansion.
Cost Cutting
Some economists have said efficiency gains may limit job creation. Companies have been trying to hold down costs because competition and unused production capacity in many industries have made it difficult to raise prices.
Cost cutting has contributed to the loss of 336,000 jobs this year, according to government payroll figures. Productivity, or the amount of work done in an hour, rose at a 6.8 percent annual rate in the second quarter, compared with an average annual increase of 2.5 percent from 1996 to 2000.
Kraft Foods Inc., the biggest U.S. foodmaker, is looking ``very aggressively'' at cutting costs, Co-Chief Executive Betsy Holden told investors on a conference call this week, without providing specifics. Kraft is based in Northfield, Illinois. A switch by consumers to rivals' cheaper brands led to Kraft's first profit decline in two years.
Ann Gurkin, a Davenport & Co. analyst, said in a report that the company probably will fire workers and reduce production as a result.
Merck & Co., the second-biggest U.S. drugmaker, plans to cut about 4,400 jobs after posting a drop in quarterly net income in part because sales of its top-selling Zocor cholesterol medicine fell. The company is based in Whitehouse Station, New Jersey.
Last Updated: October 23, 2003 08:30 EDT
Yeah, he told his sob story and then tries to use his military service as a pity plea. That disgusted me; I can't see a real military man begging for respect like that.
He is 50+ plus years old and people like you are telling him to go pound nails for a living
That is absolutely untrue. That was how he chose to misread my comment. He stated that he was running around looking for a job pounding nails, but that even the nail-pounders were out of work because of the economy. I said that where I live housing-related trades are booming; one example of how things vary from city to city, state to state, industry to industry. Read my previous posts for the rest, I'm not going to repeat for people with comprehension problems.
I might say the same to you, sweetheart! Some previously well-compensated guy wants to play the victim, bitch and moan and cry about his plight and accuse people of saying things they didn't; well, feel sorry for him if you want, that's your perogative; he's completely lost my respect. "Boo-hoo, no one will pay me the $100k I am owed, this economy is horrible, boo-hoo." Give me a break!!!
I know a fellow who drives tanker trucks, he hauls raw materials used in manufacturing. He says business has been booming lately...that's a good sign, I'd say.
The last refuge of a scoundrel
"I'm losing an argument about the US economy . . . so I think I'll invoke being a Vietnam vet to gain pity." "I got called out for lying and being a jerk . . . so I think I'll invoke being a Vietnam vet to gain pity."
You've given yourself victim status and you're trying to milk it for all it's worth.
What a disgrace! Nodoby offered you a framing job, buddy, and nobody wants you in Charlotte. Have fun in San Francisco.
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