Unemployment claims decreased slightly last week as California continued to work through a backlog of claims in the wake of computer glitches, Bloomberg reported. The dip occurred even as the government remained in shutdown mode:
Jobless claims decreased by 15,000 to 358,000 in the week ended Oct. 12 from a revised 373,000 in the prior period, a Labor Department report showed today in Washington. The median forecast of 46 economists surveyed by Bloomberg called for an decrease to 335,000. Applications in California remained elevated and the total also included some non-federal workers dismissed due to the gridlock in Washington, a Labor Department spokesman said as the figures were released to the press.
