Strikes Boost Jobless Claims for the Week

Jobless claims jumped by 13,000 for the week ended June 13, caused in part by strikes at General Motors Corp., the Labor Department said. The number of people filing new claims for unemployment benefits rose to 327,000 in the week that saw more than 50,000 people affected by the United Auto Workers strikes at GM. In the previous week, 314,000 applied for benefits. Although not all of the UAW strikers were eligible to file claims immediately, some of the first-time claimants in the jobless figures for the week of June 13 included GM strike-related applications in New Jersey and Kansas, the Labor Department said. The GM strikers in Michigan generally are not eligible to apply for unemployment benefits, but those who are idled as an indirect result of the strike are, the government said. The rise brought the weekly average rate of new claims over the last four weeks--a more accurate measurement of employment trends than the more volatile weekly numbers--to 322,000, up from 318,750 in the previous four-week period.