Unemployment, Economy | featured news

The government said the economy shed 85,000 jobs last month, surprising forecasters, while the unemployment rate held steady at 10 percent.

A government report Thursday on claims for unemployment aid signaled that layoffs are easing and that the economy could be on the verge of posting the first monthly gain in jobs in two years.

Analysts had expected an increase. The number of newly laid-off workers filing claims for unemployment benefits dropped unexpectedly last week, the Labor Department reported today, a sign the job market is healing as the economy slowly recovers.

California's unemployment rate fell in November, another sign that a recovery is underway, even as the state shed jobs from its payrolls.

The state's unemployment rate slid to 12.3%, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported this morning, down from 12.5% the month before. It is one of 36 states that saw unemployment rates decline in November.

Focused on keeping the recovery going and driving down double-digit unemployment, the Federal Reserve is poised to leave interest rates at a record low.

The Labor Department said initial claims for unemployment insurance rose by 17,000 to a seasonally adjusted 474,000. That was above analysts' expectations of 460,000.

President Barack Obama will lay out policy proposals to combat double-digit unemployment in a speech on Tuesday tackling an economic problem that has become a political drain on his young administration.

The tally of newly laid-off workers seeking unemployment benefits fell unexpectedly for the fifth straight week, a hopeful sign that the job market is slowly improving....

Economists expect the joblessness that has weighed down the nation's economic recovery will start to slowly abate in 2010, but they predict consumers will continue to keep a tight rein on spending, according to a new survey.

The U.S. economic recovery will be weaker than after previous deep recessions, and the high jobless rate will decline only slowly, the OECD said on Thursday.