Initial Jobless Claims Rise, Surprising Economists

Washington, DC, July 1, 2010--Initial jobless claims last week rose by 13,000 to 472,000, surprising forecasters who predicted a slight drop from the previous week.

The number of ongoing jobless claims rose from 4.57 million the week before to 4.62 million last week. These are the long-term unemployed.

Forecasters expected 455,000 new jobless claims to be filed.

Economists say that meaningful new job growth cannot occur until the weekly jobless claims number gets down into the low-400,000s or upper 300,000s and stays there. Over the past several weeks, the weekly claims number has maddeningly hovered just above that, refusing to leave its mid-400,000s perch.