WASHINGTON - Government data due out Thursday is expected to show further evidence of a softening labor market.
Economists predict the number of newly laid-off workers filing for jobless benefits rose slightly last week for the seventh time in eight weeks. Wall Street economists surveyed by Thomson/IFR expect that claims rose by 1,000 to 320,000 for the week ending Sept. 15.
The Department of Labor is scheduled to release the data at 8:30 a.m. EDT.
Applications for unemployment benefits grew by 4,000 to a total 319,000 for the week ended Sept. 8. The government's four-week moving average of new claims, which smooths out drastic fluctuations from week to week, fell by 1,000 to 324,000.
In further signs the job market may be tightening, Whirlpool Corp. (NYSE:WHR) this week pushed up part of a layoff scheduled for next year. The household appliance maker said it will lay off 360 people from its plant in Fort Smith, Ark., effective Nov. 2. The job cuts are part of a previously announced layoff of 700 workers that the company last year said would occur in the first half of 2008.
Elsewhere, Merrill Lynch (OOTC:MERIZ) & Co. Inc., the world's largest brokerage, said it will cut an unspecified number of jobs at its First Franklin (NASDAQ:FFHS) Financial Corp. unit due mostly to weakness in the mortgage market.
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