U.S. jobless claims fall unexpectedly to lowest since late April
Applications for U.S. unemployment insurance dropped unexpectedly to a five-month low, suggesting robust demand for workers amid economic uncertainty.
Applications for U.S. unemployment insurance dropped unexpectedly to a five-month low, suggesting robust demand for workers amid economic uncertainty.
The Federal Reserve will have to keep boosting its benchmark interest rate to a point that raises unemployment and gets inflation down from unusually high levels, two officials said in separate remarks Monday.
An estimated 95,096 Hoosiers are currently unemployed and seeking jobs, the state reported Friday. That’s up from 87,889 in July.
Jobless claims have been dropping as employers are still trying to fill millions of open positions and retain the workers they already have.
Hiring in the U.S. in 2022 has been remarkably strong even as the country faces rising interest rates and weak economic growth.
The increase that the government reported Tuesday will be a disappointment for Federal Reserve officials, who are seeking to cool hiring by raising short-term interest rates to try to slow borrowing and spending, which tend to fuel inflation.
The number of Americans collecting traditional unemployment benefits fell by 19,000 the week that ended Aug. 13, to 1.42 million.
The state’s labor force participation rate also rose slightly, to 63.3% in July, remaining higher than the national rate, which ticked down to 62.1%.
The number of Americans collecting traditional unemployment benefits increased by 7,000 the week that ended Aug. 6, to 1.43 million. That’s the most since early April.
Applications for jobless aid have risen in five out of the last six weeks, the Labor Department reported Thursday.
Applications for jobless aid for the week ending July 30 rose by 6,000, to 260,000, from the previous week’s 254,000, the Labor Department reported Thursday.
Fewer Americans applied for jobless benefits last week, but the previous week’s number was revised upward significantly, with claims breaching the 250,000 level in back-to-back weeks for the first time in more than eight months.
An estimated 73,911 Hoosiers are currently unemployed and seeking jobs, the state reported Friday. That’s down from 88,240 in December and 100,696 in November.
More Americans applied for jobless aid last week, but the total number of Americans collecting unemployment remains at a five-decade low.
The Government Accountability Office’s findings underscore the immense task facing Washington as it attempts to keep watch over the roughly $5 trillion in emergency aid it approved since the start of the pandemic.
An estimated 72,191 Hoosiers are currently unemployed and seeking jobs, the state reported Friday. That’s down from 88,240 in December and 100,696 in November.
American workers are enjoying historically strong job security two years after the coronavirus pandemic plunged the economy into a short but devastating recession.
In some cases, workers say rising costs—and the inability to keep up while on a fixed income—are factoring heavily into their decisions.
Employers posted 11.5 million job openings in March, more evidence of a tight labor market that has emboldened millions of American workers to seek better paying jobs and contributed to the biggest surge in inflation in four decades.
As the Federal Reserve sees it, the surge in job postings forces employers to boost wages to attract and keep workers. Those higher labor costs are then passed to customers in the form of higher prices, thereby helping fuel inflation.