New Unemployment Claims Drop to 220,000, Down 8,000 from Previous Week
Continuing Claims Rise Due to Shutdown Impact
The number of new weekly unemployment claims in the United States has recently decreased slightly. In contrast, the number of continuing unemployment claims, which refers to people applying for benefits for more than two weeks, has risen to its highest level in four years.
A job posting is displayed at a retail store in Mount Prospect, Illinois, USA. Photo by AP Yonhap News
According to the U.S. Department of Labor on November 20 (local time), the number of new unemployment claims filed during the week of October 30 to November 5 was 220,000, down by 8,000 from the previous week’s 228,000. This figure is also lower than the 227,000 projected by experts surveyed by Bloomberg.
Meanwhile, the number of continuing unemployment claims for the week of November 2 to 8 was tallied at 1,974,000, an increase of 28,000 from the previous week’s 1,946,000. This is the highest level since November 2021, when the figure stood at 2,041,000. The increase is attributed to a rise in claims from federal employees following the longest-ever federal government shutdown, which lasted 43 days starting October 1 and resulted in a temporary suspension of government work.
While unemployment benefit indicators show mixed trends, employment in September increased much more than expected. According to the September employment report released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) under the Department of Labor on this day, nonfarm payrolls increased by 119,000, more than double the market forecast of 53,000. However, the unemployment rate rose from 4.3% in August to 4.4% in September.
The U.S. Federal Reserve is expected to decide next month whether to further lower the benchmark interest rate, taking into account employment data, inflation, and other key economic indicators.
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