TraderWise

While unemployment is up overall, individual states are seeing improvements

The unemployment rate in 21 states dropped during the month of April. This is an improvement over March, in which unemployment rose in 46 states. However, even with this good news, the overall unemployment rate continues to climb.

For the first time in a year and a half, unemployment in the UK fell, declining by 7,000 to 2.46 million. According to the Office of National Statistics (ONS), the unemployment rate now stands at 7.8 percent.

BBC News

Chart of the Day: "Today, the Labor Department reported that the unemployment rate actually decreased from 9.5% to 9.4% during July. This is the first decrease in the unemployment rate since April 2008. For some perspective on the current state of the labor market, today's chart illustrates the unemployment rate since 1948.

As negative as I am, I am not on the bandwagon for a "Depression" - while I think unemployment is mightily understated by our government [Nov 7: October's Unemployment Rate Reaches "6.5%"] and probably will reach levels (in real terms, not government terms) that will be debilitating in the next 18 months, it is hard to take much credence in the 1930s figures because how accurate was "25% unemployment" then? Many women were also not in the work force so it is very hard to make comparisons.

What a week. What a couple of weeks. And you have to wonder if another -- or several more -- shoes will drop. While you're wondering, here are five items you might wish to check out over the next couple of days.

Let's get right to it -- five items you might check out over the next couple of days.

The number of people unemployed in the UK rose by 53,000 to 2.51 million during the three months to March, official figures have shown.

The unemployment total is now at its highest level since December 1994.

However, the total number of people claiming unemployment benefit fell in April by 27,100 to 1.52 million – a sharper fall than expected.

The rate of unemployment remained at 8%, the Office for National Statistics said.

BBC News

US Unemployment Rate Tops 8.5%

The US Labor Department released the latest unemployment figures this morning and the news continues to be grim. Unemployment in March jumped to 8.5 percent and there are now 13.2 million people unemployed in the US.

With the weeks already flying by in 2010, here we go with yet another five items you might check out over the next couple of days.