The moving four-week average of new unemployment benefits claims has risen to its highest level since the recession of 1991 experts revealed yesterday, and is likely to continue to increase in the near future. Although the number of claims was down by 67,000 last week, Federal Reserve Bank Officials have stressed that this is the result of seasonal fluctuations, and that both new and continuing unemployment claims are continuing to increase relative to last year's numbers. Economists have predicted that despite recent rebounds in the stock market and the strength of the dollar, unemployment data show that it will be at least 6six months before the economy truly begins to recover.
See "New unemployment claims average is highest since 1991", Tribune News Services, Chicago Tribune, October 11, 2001