Jobless Claims Rise

This article in the Wall Street Journal, gives a brief overview of jobless claims within the last month. To date the number of people filing an initial jobless claim is 368,000. Even though this is "the biggest jump since early November," economists still view this as a sign of an improving labor market. Also, within the article, it states that "personal incomes rose 2.6% in December which is the highest increase in eight years." So, will these encouraging numbers continue to grow in the year 2013, or will new tax policies and the fear of the fiscal cliff, substantially hurt confidence and lead to more layoffs and less wages?