Housing, jobless data point to a fragile recovery

By The Associated Press

Photo by AP

Braden Pivirotto, of Forestville, Calif., who recently graduated from Santa Clara University with a business degree, looks at a job listing wall at the Connect! Job Seeker Center in Sunnyvale, Calif.

ADVERSTISMENT

WASHINGTON — Housing construction rose in August and the number of newly laid-off workers seeking unemployment aid fell unexpectedly last week, adding to signs the recession has ended.

Still, the reports suggested a slow and fragile economic recovery. In part, that's because the increased housing starts were due solely to a surge in construction of apartment buildings - while the much larger single-family homes sector fell for the first time in six months. And jobless claims remain far above the levels associated with a healthy economy.

Construction of multifamily homes and apartments rose 1.5 percent to an annual rate of 598,000 units, the highest level since November, the Commerce Department said Thursday. That was slightly lower than the 600,000-unit pace economists had expected. And it remains more than 70 percent below the peak rate hit in 2006.

Initial claims for unemployment benefits dropped last week to a seasonally adjusted 545,000 from an upwardly revised 557,000 the previous week, the Labor Department said Thursday. Wall Street economists expected claims to rise by 5,000, according to Thomson Reuters.

Read tomorrow's Arkansas Democrat-Gazette for full details.

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