DOC Home Page

Newsroom Home


Press Releases


Media Contacts


Secretary Evans

	Biography
	Speeches

Webcast Archive

Photographic Services

Search all Commerce web sites at FirstGov Enter search terms:

EVANS PRAISES LOWEST JOBLESS CLAIMS IN OVER THREE YEARS; EMPLOYMENT INDEXES HITTING RECORD LEVELS

WASHINGTON, DC – Secretary of Commerce Donald L. Evans today praised the substantial drop in jobless claims that beat market expectations and emphasized the record employment levels by the ISM non-manufacturing employment index and the National Association for Business Economics (NABE) industry survey.

“Americans should be optimistic because our surging economy is increasingly replacing unemployment checks with paychecks. Under President Bush’s leadership, the wallets of hardworking Americans are thicker because take home pay is up 11 percent,” Evans said. “More people are working today in America than ever before. Since last August, our economy created 1.5 million jobs.”

Jobless Claims (Week ending July 3): 310,000

Jobless claims dropped -39,000 to 310,000 for the week ending July 3rd. This is far better than market expectations, which expected claims to drop to 341,000. Initial claims dropped to their lowest level since the President has been in office. Moreover, the 4-week moving average of initial UI claims has been below 350,000 for 4 months and is consistent with further gains in employment.

Employment Surveys

The ISM non-manufacturing employment index (service sector) rose to the highest level in the report's seven-year history in June. The ISM said its employment index stood at 57.4 in June after hitting 56.3 in May.

The employment index within the National Association for Business Economics (NABE) industry survey rose to the highest level in over six years in the second quarter. Forty-one percent of the 104 companies responding said they plan to increase hiring in the next six months, up from 34 percent in April, the quarterly survey found. In addition, 61 percent expect to boost capital spending during the next year, up from 53 percent in the previous survey released in April.