Unemployment, Economy | featured news

The king of Spain offered an unprecedented apology Wednesday for going on an elephant-hunting safari in Africa while his subjects struggle with recession and high unemployment at home.

The number of people seeking U.S. unemployment benefits fell to a four-year low last week, suggesting employers kept hiring in March at a healthy pace.

Unemployment in the euro zone reached its highest level in almost 15 years in February, with more than 17 million people out of work, and economists said they expected job office queues to grow even longer later this year.

The number of people seeking U.S. unemployment benefits dropped last week to the lowest level in four years, adding to evidence that the job market is strengthening.

New claims for unemployment benefits dropped to a fresh four-year low last week, according to a government report on Thursday that offered evidence the jobs market recovery was gaining traction.

Unemployment benefit applications drop to 358,000, second-lowest level in nearly 4 years

Unemployment across the 17 countries that use the euro ended 2011 at a record high of one person in every 10, official figures showed Tuesday, a day after EU leaders acknowledged that they would have to boost economic growth with the same urgency that they had shown in combating their nations' debts....

American drivers are holding on to their cars and trucks for a record 10.8 years, data show, as they put off buying new vehicles amid high unemployment and a struggling economy.

A burst of hiring in December pushed the U.S. unemployment rate to its lowest level in nearly three years, giving the economy a boost at the end of 2011. The Labor Department said Friday that employers added a net 200,000 jobs last month and the unemployment rate fell to 8.5 percent, the lowest since February 2009. The rate has dropped for four straight months

The Federal Reserve said Tuesday that the U.S. economy has improved modestly as hiring and consumer spending have risen, and it's holding off on any new steps to boost the economy. Fed officials cautioned in their statement that unemployment remains high. And it noted that global economic growth has slowed — a reference to Europe's debt crisis. They left open the possibility of taking new steps next year if the economy worsens.