Economic policy reports, blog postings, and media stories of interest:
For the benefit week ending on April 3rd, 14,745 North Carolinians filed initial claims for state unemployment insurance benefits, and 191,407 individuals applied for state-funded continuing benefits. Compared to the prior week, there were more initial and continuing claims. These figures come from data released today by the U.S. Department of Labor.
Averaging new and continuing claims over a four-week period — a process that helps adjust for seasonal fluctuations and better illustrates trends — shows that an average of 13,904 initial claims were filed over the last four weeks, along with an average of 191,875 claims. Compared to the previous four-week period, both initial and continuing claims were lower.
One year ago, the four-week average for initial claims stood at 26,730 and the four-week average of continuing claims equaled 226,592.
The graph (right) shows the changes in unemployment insurance claims (as a share of covered employment) in North Carolina since the recession’s start in December 2007.
Both new and continuing claims appear to have peaked for this business cycle, and the four-week average of new claims has fallen to a level last seen in September 2008. Yet continuing claims remain at an elevated level, which suggests that unemployed individuals are finding it extremely difficult to find new positions.
From the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond’s January survey of manufacturing activity in the South Atlantic (District of Columbia, Maryland, North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia and West Virginia):
Manufacturing activity in the central Atlantic region advanced somewhat faster in March than a month earlier, according to the Richmond Fed’s latest survey. Looking at the main components of activity, shipments grew at a modest pace, while new orders were virtually unchanged and employment steadied. Other indicators were mixed. Backlogs of orders landed in negative territory and capacity utilization turned positive after being negative for the last three months. Vendor delivery times grew at a considerably quicker rate, while manufacturers reported somewhat slower growth in finished goods inventories.
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Looking forward, manufacturers’ optimism remained in place in March. Firms looked for steady growth in shipments, new orders, backlogs and capacity utilization in the months ahead, while they expected employment to grow moderately and reverse its negative reading that was seen last month.
Economic policy reports, blog postings, and media stories of interest:
From the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond’s January survey of service-sector activity in the South Atlantic (District of Columbia, Maryland, North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia and West Virginia):
Fifth District service sector activity strengthened in March, according to the latest survey by the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond. Retail sales expanded and inventories decreased. In addition, the drop in big-ticket sales abated this month. Shopper traffic continued to slump, however. At non-retail services firms, revenues fell, but the decline was less pervasive than in recent months. Price change in the broad service sector was nearly the same as a month ago.
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In labor markets, job cuts subsided at retail businesses and the number of employees was unchanged at services firms. Average wages in the overall service sector ticked higher in March.
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