Wall Street Journal (02/24/12) Jeff Bater; Tom Barkley
The number of U.S. workers applying for unemployment benefits remained unchanged last week, but the four-week average is dropping—an indication that the U.S. jobs market is gradually improving. Still, the unemployment rate is likely to stay high through 2012. The Federal Reserve anticipates modest economic growth through the rest of the year. The U.S. Department of Labor reported Feb. 23 that the number of workers drawing unemployment benefits for more than a week fell by 52,000 to 3,392,000 in the week ended Feb. 11.