Despite an increase of 218,000 last week, the majority of the rise was concentrated in only a few states like Kentucky and California. The number of people requesting unemployment compensation was at a historically low level.
The Labor Department reported Thursday that the number of people applying for unemployment benefits rose by 21,000 from the previous week’s 197,000.
According to a Wall Street Journal poll, the number of people filing for unemployment benefits in the seven days ending May 14 was expected to be 200,000. Seasonal adjustments have been made to the data.
It’s been around 200,000 since January when the number of people applying for unemployment benefits hit a 54-year low of 166,000.
Generally speaking, the labor market is still very strong. Employers say they can’t find enough workers because job opportunities are at an all-time high.
Possibly if a few prominent corporations, such as Amazon AMZN, +0.25% have lately said they want to scale back hiring or even reduce employees, there is little indication that layoffs will be common.
However, economists are keeping a careful eye on the situation because unemployment claims usually rise before a recession begins to take hold. A recession is becoming increasingly likely as the Federal Reserve raises interest rates in an effort to curb the highest inflation in 40 years.
Raw or unadjusted jobless claims climbed fivefold in Kentucky and also significantly in California, according to the most recent data.
A reduction in population was reported in all but one state.
Meanwhile, the number of those currently receiving unemployment benefits declined by 25,000 to 1.32 million in the week ending May 7. There hasn’t been a lower level since 1969.
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At a glance
Even if job losses in the tech sector appear to be increasing, head U.S. economist Nancy Vanden Houten at Oxford Economics says that because of the persistent problem of labor shortages, the firm does not predict widespread layoffs.
“Recent layoff announcements merit keeping an eye out for a shift in corporate hiring.”
According to High-Frequency Economics’ top U.S. economist, Rubella Farooqi, “decisions.”
This is the market reaction: The DJIA DJIA and the S&P 500 SPX were expected to open lower on Thursday. On Wednesday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell more than 1,000 points due to fresh concerns about the economy.
Initial unemployment claims jumped by 21,000 to 218,000, the highest amount since January, according to data from the US Department of Labor.
The previous week’s level was 6,000 points lower than originally reported
This week’s four-week moving average of claims rose by 8,250 from the revised average of 191,250, which had been lowered downward by 1,500.
This week’s continuing claims were 1,317,000, the lowest level since December 1969, according to the latest weekly total.
As reported by CNBC, economists polled by Reuters predicted a weekly increase of 200,000 in the number of new applications.