Up: Oilfield services company Baker Hughes Inc. says the number of rigs exploring for oil and natural gas in Louisiana rose by two this week to 78. For Louisiana, it’s the second straight week in which it added to its rig count. The week previous, the count rose by seven to 76. The U.S. rig count, meanwhile, declined by two this week to 874. Houston-based Baker Hughes says in its weekly count released today that 664 rigs were seeking oil and 209 explored for natural gas. One was listed as miscellaneous. A year ago, 1,889 rigs were active. Among major oil- and gas-producing states, New Mexico gained three rigs and North Dakota, Ohio, Texas and Wyoming each gained one. Kansas lost four rigs, Utah declined by three, Alaska and Pennsylvania each lost two and Colorado and West Virginia each declined by one. The U.S. rig count peaked at 4,530 in 1981 and bottomed at 488 in 1999.
Down: First-time claims for unemployment insurance in Louisiana for the week ending July 25 decreased from the previous week’s total. The state labor department figures released today show the initial claims decreased to 2,510 from the previous week’s total of 2,694. For the comparable week a year earlier, there were 2,312. Machinery manufacturing had the largest decrease in initial claims, followed by educational services. The four-week moving average, which is a less volatile measure of claims, decreased to 2,841 from the previous week’s total of 2,890. Continued unemployment claims for the week ending July 25 decreased to 27,869 compared to 27,985 the previous week. The four-week moving average for such claims increased to 27,316 from the previous week’s average of 26,923.
Glacial pace: U.S. wages and benefits grew in the spring at the slowest pace in 33 years, stark evidence that stronger hiring isn’t lifting paychecks much for most Americans. The Associated Press reports the slowdown also likely reflects a sharp dropoff in bonus and incentive pay for some workers. The employment cost index rose just 0.2% in the April-June quarter after a 0.7% increase in the first quarter, the Labor Department announced today. The index tracks wages, salaries and benefits. Wages and salaries alone also rose 0.2%. Both measures recorded the smallest quarterly gains since the second quarter of 1982. Salaries and benefits for private sector workers were unchanged, the weakest showing since the government began tracking the data in 1980. Read the full story.
