Jun 21, 2012 No Comments ›› Pat Dollard
WASHINGTON (AP) — The number of people seeking U.S. unemployment benefits dipped last week but not by enough to signal a better month of hiring in June.
Weekly applications for unemployment aid declined by 2,000 to a seasonally adjusted 387,000, the Labor Department said. That’s down from an upwardly revised 389,000.
A more telling sign of the trend in unemployment benefit applications is the four-week average, which smooths week-to-week fluctuations. That rose for by 3,500 to 386,250, the highest level since December.
“After a fairly substantial period of constantly lower jobless claims, a new, more unwelcome trend higher has taken hold,” said Dan Greenhaus, chief economic strategist at BTIG LLC, in an email.
