Unexpected Market Growth Contrary to Expected Decline
Increase Compared to Previous Week
Recent Drop in New Unemployment Attributed to Stricter Unemployment Benefit Approvals
[Asia Economy New York=Correspondent Baek Jong-min] The number of new unemployment claims in the United States unexpectedly increased again. This has cast a shadow over the outlook for economic and labor market recovery.
The U.S. Department of Labor announced on the 24th (local time) that the number of new unemployment claims for the week of September 13-19 was 870,000. This is an increase of 4,000 from the previous week's 866,000.
This result broke experts' expectations that new unemployment claims would continue to decline. The Dow Jones consensus forecast among experts was 850,000.
The number of claims has remained below 1 million for four consecutive weeks, but it is still considered an unusually high level. The Wall Street Journal assessed that the employment situation remains weak.
The Associated Press reported that the recent decrease in new unemployment claims below 1 million is due to delays in paperwork processing. As state governments have strengthened efforts to filter out fraudulent unemployment claims, the processing of unemployment claims has been delayed, causing delays in unemployment benefit payments. Therefore, the decrease does not reflect an actual reduction in new unemployed individuals.
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