USA: Jobless claims decline as labor market recovers

USA: Jobless claims decline as labor market recovers

The number of Americans filing new jobless claims has fallen to near pre-pandemic levels last week as the labor market recovery gathers momentum, although worker shortages continue to hamper faster job gains.

Initial jobless claims fell by 1,000 to 268,000 seasonally adjusted data in the week ended Nov. 13, the US Department of Labor reported on Thursday (18). This was the lowest level since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic in the US, more than 20 months ago.

Economists polled by Reuters were forecasting 260,000 new orders for the last week.

The seventh consecutive weekly decline in orders left the reading just above the 256,000 level in mid-March 2020. Records are now in a range associated with a healthy job market. They dropped from a record 6.149 million in April 2020.

The continued improvement is consistent with other data suggesting an acceleration in economic activity after a slowdown in the Northern Hemisphere summer, when a wave of coronavirus infections — driven by the Delta variant — hit the country. The US government on Tuesday reported an increase in retail sales in October. Factory production also rebounded strongly last month.

Applications have been on a downward trend since mid-October, suggesting stronger employment growth. But the pandemic, which has lasted for nearly two years, has created a shortage of workers, leaving 10.4 million jobs open at the end of September.

The economy created 531,000 jobs in October. Employment growth has averaged 582,000 jobs per month this year, and the workforce has fallen by 3 million from its pre-pandemic level.

Reference: CNN Brasil