Unemployment claims dropped last week, another sign that the economy and the overall job picture may be improving as the country heads into the holiday season.
According to the federal Department of Labor, jobless claims fell by 10,000 to 316,000. Most experts had projected about 330,000 jobless claims, according to an article from Reuters.
The numbers are “indicative of the kind of job growth we’ve been getting over the last couple months,” Michael Hanson, U.S. senior economist at Bank of America Corp. in New York, told Bloomberg Businessweek. “We’ve been moving forward but we’re not at a robust pace yet.”
The numbers could be good news for those in school or considering going back to school. Companies have kept workforces at a minimum in many cases since the recession. However, an uptick in consumer spending – which accounts for 70% of national economic growth – could help drive job growth.
The weekly unemployment claims have dropped six out of the last seven weeks, a signal that layoffs have slowed nationwide, according to USA Today. At the same time, hiring has picked up. Private businesses added 212,000 new positions in October, the most since February, the newspaper reported.
Nationally, the economy has added about 202,000 jobs per month from August through October. That’s far better than the 146,000 per month from May through July.
Businesses are hoping the improvement in some areas of the economy, such as rising stock and home prices and an increase in employment, will lead to an improved holiday shopping season.
There has been some controversy about how the sales this year began on Thanksgiving Day itself.
According to the Los Angeles Times, this really is nothing new – retailers opened on Thanksgiving Day in 2012 and about 35 million Americans shopped on the holiday itself. That was a 21% increase from the number who shopped on Thanksgiving Day in 2011.
Some of the stores that will be open on Thanksgiving included Wal-Mart, Toys R Us, Kohl’s, Gap, Old Navy, Banana Republic , Target, K-Mart, Best Buy, Sears, J.C. Penney’s and Macy’s.
Because retailers are demanding more from employees this Thanksgiving, some are offering perks such as discounts on shopping or relaxed dress codes, according to the Los Angeles Times.
