• From the Associated Press:
"US applications for jobless benefits rose last week but remain at historically low levels despite efforts by the Federal Reserve to cool the economy and the job market in its fight against inflation.
"Jobless claims in the United States for the week ending March 25 rose by 7,000 to 198,000 from the previous week, the Labor Department said Thursday.
"The four-week moving average of claims, which evens out some of the week-to-week fluctuations, rose by 2,000 to 198,250, remaining below the 200,000 threshold for the tenth straight week.
"Applications for unemployment benefits are broadly seen reflective of the number of layoffs in the United States."
• Pew is out with a new survey showing that "an outsized share of American workers don't take all of their available paid time off," Axios reports. Indeed, "46% of workers said they take less time off than offered."
According to Axios, "Pew asked about all paid time off, including not only vacation but sick time and personal days. But in explaining why they didn't use all their time off, none of the answers were about not getting sick.
Lower-wage earners were more likely to worry about losing their jobs if they took too much time away, said Kim Parker, director of social and demographic trends at Pew.
"Higher-income workers were more likely to keep working because they worried they'd fall behind."
• In California, KTLA-TV News reports that Cal-Maine Foods, the country's largest egg producer, has reported profit of $323 million during the most recent quarter - 718 percent higher than the $39.5 million reported during the same period a year ago.
No yolk.
The story quotes the company's president/CEO, Sherman Miller, as calling the profits “a solid performance" and "reflective of a dynamic market environment with higher average selling prices and favorable demand."
Which, KTLA said, is an understatement, especially because of the egg prices that were "at crazy-high levels because of bird flu, which caused millions of hens to be put down."
