Jobless claims rise unexpectedly week ending Feb. 28, 2015, 25,000 more than predicted. 4Q 2014 downward revisions, nonfarm productivity declined 2.2 instead of 1.8; 4Q 2014 hrs. worked revised from 5.1 to 4.9. "Weak productivity has helped to boost hiring," says Reuters

.
3/5/15, "Jobless claims rise as fourth-quarter productivity revised down," Reuters via CS Monitor

"Initial claims for state unemployment benefits increased by 7,000 to a seasonally adjusted 320,000 for the week ended Feb. 28, the highest reading since mid-May, the Labor Department said on Thursday.

 

The Labor Department said there were no special factors influencing the report....

Economists polled by Reuters had expected claims to fall to 295,000 last week....

Thursday's claims report showed the number of people still receiving benefits after an initial week of aid increased 17,000 to 2.42 million in the week ended Feb. 21....

Other data on Thursday showed nonfarm productivity contracted more sharply than previously thought in the fourth quarter as output failed to keep up with a jump in hours....

In a second report, the department said productivity fell at a 2.2 percent annual rate in the fourth quarter, instead of the 1.8 percent pace it had reported last month.

Economists polled by Reuters had expected that productivity, which measures hourly output per worker, would be revised down to show it declining at a 2.3 percent rate in the fourth quarter.
Productivity has been weak for much of the recovery from the 2007-09 recession. Weak productivity has helped to boost hiring....

Productivity increased 0.7 percent for all of 2014, revised down from the 0.8 percent gain reported last month. In the fourth quarter, hours worked increased at a revised 4.9 percent rate instead of the previously reported 5.1 percent pace.

Compensation per hour rose at a 1.9 percent rate, rather than the 0.9 percent pace reported last month. That left unit labor costs, a key gauge of inflation and profit pressures that measures the price of labor for any given unit of output, increasing at a 4.1 percent rate in the fourth quarter. That was revised up from the 2.7 percent rate reported last month....

The claims data has no bearing on Friday's employment report for February as it falls outside the survey period.

Nonfarm payrolls are expected to have increased 240,000 last month after rising 257,000 in January, according to a Reuters survey of economists. The unemployment rate is forecast falling one-tenth of a percentage point to 5.6 percent."...

.
"Recommended: Top 10 part-time jobs"



.