Wednesday’s report underscores the distorted nature of the job market after two years of the pandemic. There are 1.7 available jobs for every unemployed worker, which has led to widespread complaints among businesses about worker shortages.
The Labor Department’s report Friday also showed that the unemployment rate dropped from 4% to a low 3.8%, extending a sharp decline in joblessness as the economy has rebounded from the pandemic recession.
Jobless claims fell by 18,000, to 215,000, for the week ending Feb. 26, from 233,000 the previous week, the Labor Department reported Thursday.
A winter spike in coronavirus infections briefly tripped up the country’s rebound from 2020′s virus-caused recession, but employers appear confident in long-term growth and are eager to hire.
In total, fewer than 1.6 million Americans were collecting jobless aid the week that ended Feb. 5, a decrease of about 26,000 from the previous week.
The four-week average for claims, which compensates for weekly volatility, declined by 2,000, to 253,250, after rising for five straight weeks as the omicron variant of the coronavirus spread, disrupting business in many parts of the U.S.
The government’s report Friday also drastically revised up its estimate of job gains for November and December by a combined 709,000.
The latest government figures show that the surprisingly strong labor market last month extended to parts of the workforce that usually take longer to draw in.
After three consecutive weeks of unemployment claims that appeared to rise in tandem with omicron, fewer Americans applied for unemployment benefits for the second week in a row.
About 4.3 million people quit their jobs in December, down from a record of 4.5 million in November. Still, far more Americans are leaving their jobs than before the pandemic.
However, the state’s labor force participation rate also fell, drooping from 62.5% in November to 62.4% in December—a near-record low for at least the last 45 years.
Jobless claims rose for the third straight week—by 55,000, to 286,000, the Labor Department reported Thursday. The jump in claims marked the biggest one-week increase since mid-July.
The weekly applications, a proxy for layoffs, have risen in four of the last five weeks, a period that runs in tandem with the spread of the omicron variant.
Wages also rose sharply, a sign that companies are competing fiercely to fill their open jobs. A record-high wave of quitting, as many workers seek better jobs, is also fueling pay raises.
Economists estimated that employers added 400,000 jobs last month, according to a survey by data provider FactSet. That would mark an increase from 210,000 in November.
Employers hired 6.7 million people in November, up from 6.5 million in October, the Labor Department reported Tuesday in its monthly Jobs Openings and Labor Turnover Survey.
The four-week average of unemployment claims, which smooths out week-to-week volatility, fell to just above 199,000, the lowest level since October 1969.
The economy has seldom seen such a mismatch between so much demand for workers and so few people willing to work.
The Labor Department has reported about $87 billion in unemployment benefits could have been paid improperly, with a significant portion attributable to fraud.
However, the state’s labor force participation rate also fell, drooping from 62.7% in October to 62.5% in November—a near-record low for at least the last 46 years.
