Stronger job market could boost economy further

Associated Press

WASHINGTON

The healthier job market that’s lifted the economy in recent months shows no signs of slowing.

Applications for unemployment aid are near a four-year low, raising expectations of further hiring gains. The news Thursday helped catapult the Dow Jones industrial average to its highest close since May 2008.

More jobs and tame inflation are giving consumers more buying power. Their higher spending could further boost growth and lower the unemployment rate for February for a sixth-straight month.

Even the troubled housing market is benefiting. Builders expect improved sales in the near future. In response, they’re planning to break ground on more homes.

“The housing starts and unemployment claims numbers add to the belief that the economy is shifting gears,” said Joel Naroff, president of Naroff Economic Advisers. “The decline in the unemployment rate is real, and it should continue.”

A series of positive economic reports Thursday reinforced that message:

Weekly applications for unemployment benefits fell to a seasonally adjusted 348,000, the Labor Department said. That’s the lowest level since March 2008. Unemployment applications have dropped 11 percent in four months.

Builders broke ground in January on a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 699,000 homes, the Commerce Department said. That nearly matches November’s three-year high. Single-family home construction cooled off slightly after a big jump in December.

Factory activity in the Philadelphia region grew in February at the fastest pace in five months, a survey by the Philadelphia Federal Reserve Bank found. That followed a report that showed a third-straight month of factory growth in the New York region.

Wholesale prices were largely unchanged in January, Commerce said. Though gas prices are rising, they’ve been offset by falling costs for electricity, home-heating oil and natural gas. Most economists see inflation as little threat.

Many analysts are growing more optimistic about the job growth the government will report next month for February. Some say the net job gains could match or top January’s.

Naroff said the unemployment rate, now at 8.3 percent, could drop below 8 percent by year’s end.