Jobless claims and retail data give economy a lift

A weak economy got a little lift Thursday with new data suggesting companies aren't pursuing mass layoffs and stores are a little busier.

New applications for unemployment benefits declined for a second straight week after rising in the previous three. New claims fell last week by 6,000 to a seasonally adjusted 472,000, the Labor Department said Thursday.

The four-week average of jobless claims, a less-volatile measure, fell by 2,500 to 485,500, its first decrease after four straight increases.

Even with the declines, claims are still at much higher levels than they would be in a healthy economy. When economic output is growing rapidly and employers are hiring, claims generally drop below 400,000.

It appears "that a wave of panicked layoffs has passed, as companies have become a bit calmer in the face of the financial and economic disruptions of late spring and early summer," Pierre Ellis, an economist at Decision Economics, wrote in a note to clients.

The claims report comes one day before the Labot Department is scheduled to issue the August employment report Friday. That is expected to show that private businesses added a net total of only 41,000 jobs last month, the fourth straight month of anemic hiring.- AP