Bloomberg (06/13/13) Jeanna Smialek
Jobless claims declined by 12,000 to 334,000 in the week ended June 8 from 346,000 a week earlier, according to the U.S. Department of Labor. The median forecast of economists surveyed by Bloomberg predicted jobless claims of 346,000. Fewer layoffs mean companies have cut staff about as much as they can, which means companies may add to staff if sales improve in the second half of the year.
“The downside risk from sequestration is proving much smaller than some had feared,” says Mike Englund, chief economist at Action Economics LLC in Boulder, CO. “Just like we dodged the bullet with the payroll tax increase earlier in the year, we seem to have dodged the bullet with sequestration.”