Anyone who thinks the economy has turned the corner ought to talk to one of the nearly 8 million Americans who are getting unemployment benefits after losing their jobs.
They have plenty of time to talk to you.
The Labor Department reported Thursday that first-time claims for unemployment benefits rose by 8,000 to 652,000 on a seasonally adjusted basis. The number of people collecting state benefits increased by 122,000 to a record 5.56 million, again on a seasonally adjusted basis.
It was the third consecutive week that continuing claims rose by more than 100,000, a strong signal that hiring is anemic.
The raw numbers, not seasonally adjusted, are even worse, with 6.4 million collecting state unemployment benefits, and an additional 1.4 million who were collecting the federal benefits that go to people who've been fruitlessly looking for a job for more than six months.
The claims numbers don't show the whole story.
About 4 million more people are officially unemployed but not eligible for jobless benefits. In addition, 8.6 million can find only part-time work and another 2 million have given up looking for work. Nearly 15% of the workforce is unemployed, underemployed, or just plain discouraged.
The economy has lost more than 4 million jobs since the recession began, and about 3 million since the crisis deepened in September.
Unfortunately, job losses look to continue for the foreseeable future. Some economists suggested payrolls would fall by about 700,000 in March and the unemployment rate could climb to 8.5% from 8.2% in February.
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