Global| Mar 17 2010UK Claimant Count In Surprise Move Lower
Summary
The UK, an economy that has been as much of an enigma as any, surprised us with a drop in the claimant count for February. Jobless claims fell in number by 32K in February and their numbers are lower on balance over three-months and [...]
The UK, an economy that has been as much of an enigma as any, surprised us with a drop in the claimant count for February. Jobless claims fell in number by 32K in February and their numbers are lower on balance over three-months and six months. Over the past 12-monhts claims are up by nearly 200K. But as the table shows the recent months mark some progress.
The rate of unemployment on this measure that dipped to 4.9% in February and is back to where it was some 12-months ago.
The Bank of England continues to deal with an inflation overshoot of its ceiling, and the economy continues to produce statistics that vary between giving us hope and leaving us with despair. But the claimant report for February is a clear bit of good news for an economy in need of some. With Europe and the EMU wracked by problems centering on Greece and other indebted countries and the UK being drawn into that discussion there is nothing like a bit good news on the labor markets to put the skeptics back in their place.
| UK Claimant Count | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Feb-10 | Jan-10 | Dec-09 | 3mo | 6-mo | 12-mo | |
| Level in Month | Avg in Period | |||||
| U-rate | 4.9 | 5.0 | 5.0 | 5.0 | 5.0 | 4.9 |
| Change in MO | Change over period | |||||
| Change on 000s | -32.3 | 5.3 | -9.6 | -36.6 | -20.9 | 194.7 |
Robert Brusca
AuthorMore in Author Profile »Robert A. Brusca is Chief Economist of Fact and Opinion Economics, a consulting firm he founded in Manhattan. He has been an economist on Wall Street for over 25 years. He has visited central banking and large institutional clients in over 30 countries in his career as an economist. Mr. Brusca was a Divisional Research Chief at the Federal Reserve Bank of NY (Chief of the International Financial markets Division), a Fed Watcher at Irving Trust and Chief Economist at Nikko Securities International. He is widely quoted and appears in various media. Mr. Brusca holds an MA and Ph.D. in economics from Michigan State University and a BA in Economics from the University of Michigan. His research pursues his strong interests in non aligned policy economics as well as international economics. FAO Economics’ research targets investors to assist them in making better investment decisions in stocks, bonds and in a variety of international assets. The company does not manage money and has no conflicts in giving economic advice.
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