Economy, Job Market | featured news

Chairman Ben Bernanke says the U.S. job market remains weak despite three months of strong hiring and that the Federal Reserve's existing policies will help boost economic growth.

New claims for unemployment benefits dropped to a fresh four-year low last week, according to a government report on Thursday that offered evidence the jobs market recovery was gaining traction.

U.S. home sales are gradually coming back. A mild winter and a stronger job market have helped boost sales ahead of the crucial spring buying season.

New claims for unemployment benefits rose in the latest week, but not by enough to shake the conviction that the job market is still healing.

Employers advertised more jobs in September than at any other point in the past three years, a hopeful sign that job market is slowly improving.

The number of people seeking unemployment benefits ticked up slightly last week, evidence that the job market isn't improving.

More people applied for unemployment benefits last week, the first increase in three weeks and evidence that the job market is still sluggish.

U.S. Federal Reserve officials are increasingly confident of the economic recovery but remain unsatisfied with the healing of the job market, minutes of their January meeting released on Wednesday showed.

The Consumer Confidence Index rose in January to its highest level in eight months with Americans growing a little more confident about the job market and business conditions.

The job market and the economy will improve only slightly next year, according to an Associated Press survey of leading economists whose outlook for 2011 has dimmed over the past three months.