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October 5, 2008
Tight credit is taking a toll on manufacturing and jobs.
More people than expected lined up at the unemployment lines last week, and orders to U.S. factories plunged by the largest amount in two years, according to government figures released Thursday.
New applications for unemployment benefits rose slightly last week to a seven-year high because of a weakening economy and the effect of Hurricanes Ike and Gustav, the Labor Department said Thursday.
The agency reported that initial claims for jobless benefits increased by 1,000 to a seasonally adjusted 497,000, the highest since just after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
The hurricanes, which hit Texas and Louisiana earlier this month, added about 45,000 claims from the two states for the week that ended Sept. 27, the department said.
The storms have led to higher claims for several weeks. Meanwhile, the Commerce Department said Thursday that factory orders in August plunged 4 percent compared with July, a steeper decline than the 2.5 percent drop expected and the biggest setback since a 4.8 percent plunge in October 2006.
The weakness was led by big declines in orders for aircraft, down 38.1 percent, and autos, which fell 10.6 percent, the worst performance in nearly six years.
Economists expect a separate report today on payrolls to reflect further weakness in the labor market. They predict it will show that the nation’s employers cut 100,000 jobs last month. That’s on top of 605,000 jobs eliminated in the first eight months of this year.
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