Washington 19th August : Initial claims for unemployment in the US last week fell a bit to 250,000, hovering at a nine months highs as the labor market is showing indications of cooling according to the Labour Department said. In the week that ended 13 August the total number of Americans applying for unemployment benefits fell by 22,000 from last week’s revised downward figure of 252,000 in an analysis published on Thursday by the Department’s Bureau of Labour Statistics.
The four-week moving average of initial jobless claims, which is a method to smooth out the volatility of data decreased by 2,750 to 246,750 Xinhua news agency reported.
The most recent number of 250,000 is significantly higher than the average weekly figure for 2019 of 218,000 that is pre-pandemic rate.In the week that ended March 14 2020, the number of unemployment claims totaled 221,000 however, in the week following, the number increased to 2.9 million.
The number of jobless claims was 166,000 in the week that ended March 19 The lowest in years.Recently, these figures have been increasing in tandem with increasing inflation and rising rates of interest.
The most recent report also revealed that the amount of people who are still receiving regular unemployment benefits as reported with one week lag in the week ending August 6.It increased by 77,000 to 1.4 million in the week ending on August 6.
The total amount of beneficiaries in every program — both state and federal together during the week that ended on July 30 also grew by 2696, bringing it to 1.48 million.
The Labour Department reported earlier this month that US employers added 528,000 jobs in July despite concerns about recession, with the unemployment rate decreasing to its pre-pandemic levels of 3.5 percent that indicates a strong job market.
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