The U.S. Department of Labor released the latest unemployment benefits data on Thursday (8th). The adjusted number of initial jobless claims last week was 230,000, an increase of 4,000 from the revised previous value of 226,000, which was in line with market expectations. It far exceeded expectations and hit a new high since early February this year, indicating that with the initial signs of cooling in the labor market, it is more difficult for unemployed Americans to find new jobs.
As of the week of December 3, the adjusted number of initial jobless claims in the United States reported 230,000, in line with market expectations. The revised previous value was 226,000, and the 4-week moving average was 230,000.
For the week ended November 26, the adjusted number of Americans continuing to receive unemployment benefits was 1.671 million, an increase of 62,000 from the unrevised 1.609 million last week and above market expectations of 1.6 million, the 4-week moving average The value reported was 1.5822 million people.
Although the U.S. job market has shown initial signs of cooling, it is still resilient overall, allowing the Federal Reserve (Fed) to continue raising interest rates to fight inflation, although successive tightening measures have increased the risk of a U.S. recession.
High Frequency Economics (High Frequency Economics) chief U.S. analyst Rubeela Farooqi said that overall the U.S. job market remains tight and demand for labor is strong, but the data show that the number of unemployed people is gradually rising.
Foreign media reports pointed out that the number of initial jobless claims tends to fluctuate greatly at the beginning of the holiday season, because companies will temporarily close or slow down the pace of hiring, which may make it difficult for the outside world to understand the true state of the job market through data.
Conrad DeQuadros, senior economic adviser at Brean Capital, said that judging from the number of people continuing to receive unemployment benefits and the rising unemployment rate, this is a sign of a mild easing of the tightness in the labor market. If this situation persists, the economic outlook is worrying.
DeQuadros also reminded that the number of jobless claims is difficult to adjust seasonally around Thanksgiving, so it is necessary to observe whether subsequent data show an upward trend to judge the cooling of the job market.
Vigorous economist Eliza Winger said that last week’s jobless claims report combined with the previous November non-farm payrolls report further proved that the labor market’s return to supply-demand balance is a slow process.