The Weekly Unemployment Claims -- The clouds get darker

This morning, the government reported 388,000 new claims for unemployment were filed last week. This is about the same as the previous two weeks and it is a bad sign. In February and March, it looked as if the economy had finally turned the corner and would be producing enough new jobs to keep up with the growth of the population. The weekly claims number got to the point where the average was just above 350,000 which, coincidently, is the figure at which most economists agree there is decent job growth. Now, we have been just under 390,000 for three weeks in a row. This is not enough to say that the April unemployment figures will be poor or that the job creation in April will be paltry, but it is certainly a warning that such bad results may be coming. Indeed, if the next few weeks keep the unemployment claims at this level, it will be a sign that the economy is starting to sputter again.