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Jobless claims fell last week for the second week in a row, but signs of a weakening labor market are omnipresent. The moving average of new jobless claims actually rose to 445,750 up from 438, 500 the previous week- the highest level in almost seven years, according to Reuters.

Unemployment claims have increased within the past several weeks partially due to an outreach effort initiated by the labor department to notify people of a 13 week benefit extension approved by Congress in June. This action has made more people eligible to file new claims.

The moving average hasn’t reached these levels since December 2001, following the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

These statistics come on the eve of announcements that several large companies will continue layoffs. Newspaper Publisher Gannett said it would lay off 600 workers.

Ford Motors will lay off 300 workers at an engine plant and chip designer Rambus said it would cut 90 jobs.

Employers cut 51,000 jobs in July, the Labor Department reported earlier this month, pushing the unemployment rate to 5.7 percent.

As cutbacks continue to ooze into all sectors of the business world, even the Wall Street elite have been forced to succumb to job losses. After the elimination of more than 76,000 financial-sector jobs, Wall Street's jobless were forced to pursue alternate avenues.

However, most Americans don’t have the luxury of opening up a cupcake shop or a retail store like laid off Wall Street workers, and they are forced to search for employment in a stagnant economy.

As businesses continue to cut jobs due to higher energy costs, tighter credit markets and a weakening economy, it comes as no shock that this is the fifth week that jobless filings have remained above 400,000– a strict indicator of a weakening economy.

American jobs need to be created to deter the crippling fate that presently awaits the American worker. Valuable work needs to become readily available so that we can eliminate our current trend of outsourcing. The Value-added-tax (VAT), The WTO and NAFTA need to be eliminated or amended in order to spawn job growth. Poor export and import laws are taking their toll on U.S. jobs. According to Pat Choate in an August 17 interview on C-Span, we are charged upwards of 19 percent to import to Germany, while Germmans receive a 19 percent tax brake to export to us. With the elimination or proper amendments to NAFTA and the WTO fewer jobs will be outsourced and Americans can reclaim our work force.

Source Reuters:

Source Guardian:

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