US jobless claims rise after 5 consecutive weeks of decline
WASHINGTON, Sept. 22, 2022 (Xinhua) Initial jobless claims in the United States rose last week after falling for 5 consecutive weeks, the Labor Department said Thursday.
In the week ending September 17, the number of Americans who filled out unemployment benefits increased by 5,000, bringing the total number of applicants to 213,000, according to a report from the Department of Labor’s Department of Labor Statistics.
The report showed that the four-week moving average of initial jobless claims, a way to smooth out data volatility, fell by 6,000 to 216,750.
The latest reports also showed that the number of those who continue to collect regular unemployment benefits from the state, which was recorded after one week, decreased by 22,000, to 1.38 million people during the week ending September 10.
Meanwhile, the number of job vacancies in the United States rose to 11.2 million by the end of July, with the imbalance between demand and supply remaining in the labor market, the US Department of Labor said earlier. As job opportunities increased, there were approximately two jobs for each worker.
With the US Federal Reserve intensifying its efforts to combat rising inflation, it is likely that a strong labor market is about to take a turn for the worse.
On the other hand, the Federal Reserve’s latest quarterly forecast showed that the average unemployment forecast will reach 4.4 percent by the end of 2023, which is an upward revision of 0.5 percentage points from June.
He also explained that the average forecast for GDP growth for this year is 0.2 percent, a further decline compared to June, when expectations reached 1.7 percent, which indicates a lack of confidence in the economic outlook.
Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said at a press conference on Wednesday afternoon that “lowering inflation is likely to require a sustained period of below-trend growth, and there is also likely to be some easing in labor market conditions.” “I hope there is a painless way to achieve this. But there is no.”
He also acknowledged that restoring price stability with a relative increase in unemployment rates and a soft fall would be a “big challenge.”
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