In each Economic Update, the Research staff analyzes recently released economic indicators and addresses what these indicators mean for REALTORS® and their clients. Today’s update discusses the latest in unemployment insurance claims data.

  • The job market appears to be sustaining the gains made in 2013 as the year starts. Fewer initial claims for unemployment insurance were filed in the week ending January 4 with filings recorded at 330,000, a decrease of 15,000 claims from the previous week.  The January number is also lower than the average number of claims filed in 2013. Fewer unemployment claims filed means fewer job losses.

  • Another positive job indicator is the net increase of 238,000 payroll jobs in December based on information provided by ADP, a payroll processing company. This data is not considered “official.” The official tally by the Department of Labor comes out tomorrow morning. Based on ADP, around 200,000 jobs are expected to be created. The economy needs about that much to speed up the decline in the unemployment rate.
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