The number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment benefits fell more than expected last week as Covid-19 infections eased, suggesting an expected slowdown in job growth in January must have been temporary.
Initial claims for unemployment benefits fell by 23,000 to a seasonally adjusted 238,000 in the week ended January 29, the Labor Department said on Thursday. Economists polled by Reuters predicted 245,000 claims for the last week.
From early January to mid-month, requests surged amid an outbreak of coronavirus infections, driven by the omicron variant. Business activity, especially in the service sector, was impacted by the latest wave.
On Wednesday (2), the ADP National Employment Report showed that there were job losses in the US private sector in January for the first time in a year, raising the strong possibility that the economy at large lost jobs in the last month.
According to a US Census survey published in mid-January, 8.8 million people reported not being working for reasons related to the coronavirus between December 29 and January 10.
The US government will release its most comprehensive employment report on Friday. There must have been 150,000 jobs created outside the agricultural sector last month, up from 199,000 in December, according to a Reuters poll of economists. Estimates range from a close of 400,000 to an opening of 385,000. The projection for the unemployment rate is that it will have remained at 3.9%, highlighting the tightening of labor market conditions.
There were 10.9 million vacancies at the end of December. Claims for unemployment benefits fell from a record 6.149 million in April 2020.
The recent disruptions in the labor market must be over and employment growth is likely to pick up. The United States is reporting an average of 433,601 new Covid-19 infections daily, well below the more than 700,000 recorded in mid-January, according to a Reuters analysis of official data.
The underlying strength in the labor market was underscored by a separate report from global outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas, released on Thursday, which showed job cuts announced by US employers held steady at 19,064. in January. Layoffs are down 76% compared to January 2021.
Source: Folha
I have over 8 years of experience in the news industry. I have worked for various news websites and have also written for a few news agencies. I mostly cover healthcare news, but I am also interested in other topics such as politics, business, and entertainment. In my free time, I enjoy writing fiction and spending time with my family and friends.
