© Archyde.com. People line up in front of a job center in the United States. Photo from Archyde.com archive.
By Lucia Mutecani
WASHINGTON (Archyde.com) – The number of Americans filing new applications for unemployment benefits rose at a moderate pace last week, while total new applications reached a 10-month high through late November, indicating a slowdown in the labor market.
However, the number of jobs in the labor market continues to outnumber those looking for them, prompting the Federal Reserve (the US central bank) to continue raising interest rates as part of its efforts to combat inflation. The labor market remained resilient in the face of rising recessionary risks from the Federal Reserve’s aggressive monetary policy approach.
First-time jobless claims increased by 4,000 to a seasonally adjusted 230,000 during the week ending Dec. 3. The increase came in line with economists’ expectations.
Unadjusted claims jumped 87,113 to 286,436 last week, driven by big increases in California, New York, Georgia and Texas. There were also notable increases in Illinois, Pennsylvania and Washington.
The US government reported last week that non-farm payrolls increased by 263,000 in November. Economists say that technology companies are reducing staff numbers after over-hiring during the Corona pandemic, noting that small companies are still in dire need of workers.
The Federal Reserve wants to slow the labor market to calm inflation, and raised the interest rate by 375 basis points this year from almost zero to a range of 3.75 to 4.00 percent, in the fastest rate hike since the 1980s.
The claims report also showed that the number of people receiving benefits after the first week of assistance rose from 62,000 to 1.671 million in the week ending Nov. 26, the highest number since February.
The unemployment rate for people receiving benefits rose to 1.2 percent, the highest level since March, from 1.1 percent in the previous week. This indicates that the unemployed take a little longer to find a job.
(Prepared by Amira Zahran for the Arabic Bulletin – Edited by Mustafa Saleh)