Demand for unemployment insurance for the first time rose to 793,000 last week, as the decline in Covid-19 cases meant little relief for the labor market.
The total for the week ended Feb. 6 was higher than the forecast for 760,000 of economists surveyed by Dow Jones, but a slight decrease from the total of 812,000 revised up from the previous week.
The pandemic era has been a long struggle for the labor market to fall back to its previous level. Non-farm payrolls rose only 49,000 in January, while the unemployment rate fell to 6.3%, mainly due to the decline in the labor force.
Continued demand for profits, which are one week behind the weekly number, also declined, falling from 145,000 to 4.54 million, the lowest total since March 21, 2020.
However, the total beneficiaries of all programs increased to 20.44 million due to an increase in the presentation of two pandemic compensation programs: for those who would not otherwise receive benefits and for to those whose usual benefits have been exhausted.
Enrollment in pandemic special programs increased by about 2.7 million during the week ended Jan. 23.
The programs had expired on Dec. 26, but Congress renewed them for 2021. Processing problems caused delays in several states, including Ohio, which saw an increase of more than 90,000 claims last week, according to data no. adjusted. The new legislation provides benefits of $ 300 above what recipients would normally get.
California also experienced a notable increase, with 23,588 new claims. Several states experienced major falls, including Florida (-51,519), New York (-19,824) and Maryland (-19,736).
“Employment growth will remain subdued over the coming months as the nation continues to struggle with the pandemic,” said Gus Faucher, chief economist at PNC’s Financial Services Group. “But employment growth will increase in the spring as vaccine distribution and better weather will make people more willing to venture out and stimulus efforts have allowed consumers to spend more money.”
More than 10 million workers are unemployed despite more than 12.5 million jobs recovered from the depths of the pandemic in March and April.
Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said Wednesday that the labor landscape “is a long way from where it should be” and said the central bank is committed to keeping interest rates low until they occur. substantial progress.