* Jobless claims fall 31,000 in latest week
* Claims reading distorted by processing problems
* Continuing claims lowest since March 2008
* Export prices decline for sixth straight month
By Jason Lange
WASHINGTON, Sept 12 (Reuters) – The number of Americans
filing new claims for jobless benefits appeared to drop to a
near 7-1/2-year low last week but the decline was driven by two
states that had trouble processing filings, making it difficult
to get a clear read on the health of the labor market.
Initial claims for state unemployment benefits dropped
31,000 to a seasonally adjusted 292,000, the lowest level since
April 2006, the Labor Department said on Thursday.
The department attributed much of the decline to computer
problems in two states – one small and the other large.
The department declined to identify the states, but a
spokeswoman for California’s unemployment insurance office said
problems upgrading a computer system there had delayed the
processing of about 20,000 claims. The spokeswoman said the
backlog has since been cleared.
Initial claims had already fallen to pre-recession levels,
and details of the report that were not affected by technical
glitches suggested the labor market continued to improve.
“While the information value of this week’s report looks
limited, claims have been signaling an improving labor market,”
said Jim O’Sullivan, chief U.S. economist at High Frequency
Economics in Valhalla, New York.
The number of people still receiving benefits under regular
state programs after an initial week of aid tumbled 73,000 to
2.87 million in the week ended Aug 31. That was the lowest since
March 2008.
In addition, the share of unemployed people who received
benefits during that week hit its lowest level since May 2008.
“We expect this trend to persist, despite the potential for
near-term volatility surrounding the administrative issues that
arose this week,” said Cooper Howes, an economist at Barclays in
New York.
The data had little impact on Wall Street, where stocks were
trading lower around midday.
EXPORT PRICES FALL
The downward trend in jobless claims has helped shape the
view of Federal Reserve officials that the labor market is
improving, and has helped fuel market expectations the U.S.
central bank will start reducing a massive bond buying program
at a policy meeting next week.
In a separate report, the Labor Department said U.S. export
prices fell for a sixth straight month in August while prices
for non-petroleum imports declined, signs of slack in global
demand and in the domestic economy.
Export prices fell 0.5 percent. Much of the drop was due to
a sharp decline in prices for exports from the volatile farm
sector, but non-agricultural exports declined as well and have
decreased in every month since March.
The decrease comes despite recent signs the European economy
is getting back into gear following a recession.
On the import side, prices have trended lower over the last
year, with the decline driven largely by the non-oil component.
This pattern was evident again in August, with fuel import
prices up 0.5 percent and non-petroleum prices down 0.2 percent.
Non-petroleum import prices have now declined every month
since February, a sign that foreign producers have little
leverage to raise prices for consumers.
