Top > Business > 2007 > January > 2007-01-21

US Unemployment Rates on the Rise

The unemployment rate climbed, last week, to its highest level since November. The United States Employment Department announced Thursday that 329 thousand new unemployed individuals filled in unemployment papers, 10 thousand people more than the previous week. This has been the third week in a row, in which unemployment rates have risen. The number of unemployed individuals was the highest since the last week of November, and is growing faster than analysts predicted. The last four week average is 317,500 new unemployed people as apposed to 316,250, last week. 39 states reported a rise in the number of unemployed people, while 13 states reported a decline, one state reported no change.

US employers are not in a rush to fire existing employees, although many have begun cutting plans to hire new employees, due to the recession in the real-estate market, which is stunting US growth. Analyst believe that the unemployment report will show that the unemployment rate has remained stable at 4.5%, during December, with businesses creating 110 thousand new positions, as apposed to 132 thousand new positions in November.

The US economy has been showing signs of a cool down in the past two months, with growth rates of approximately 2%, after a sharp downfall in the real-estate industry, leading to a growth rate of 1.2%. Analysts believe the downturn in the real-estate industry will continue to affect the last quarter`s growth rate, and will continue to have a negative effect on the economy. In addition to the real-estate industry, the automotive industry is also coping with a downturn and automotive manufacturers are trying to get rid of the surplus of unsold cars.