In a separate report, the labor department said
initial jobless claims unexpectedly rose 21,000 to 430,000 in the
week ended June 28. The four-week moving average of claims, a
less volatile indicator, fell 4,500 to 425,000.
“Major layoffs persist in corporate America, and short of
that, companies continue to delay new projects and activities that
prompt large-scale job creation,” said Carl Camden, president of
global staffing at Kelly Services Inc., the second-largest U.S.
temporary-employment company. “They want unambiguous evidence
that this recovery is real and has traction.”
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Economists had expected payrolls would hold steady last month
following a previously reported decrease of 17,000 in May,
according to the median of 71 forecasts in a Bloomberg News
survey. They projected the unemployment rate would rise a tenth of
a percentage point to 6.2 percent.
The unemployment rate may have peaked, according to the
latest Bloomberg monthly survey of economists. The jobless rate is
forecast to average 6.1 percent in the third quarter before falling in the final three months of 2003 to 6 percent, according
to the median of 55 estimates.
Bloomberg News
