The first time they filed for unemployment claims in the United States fell to 310,000 last week, easily the lowest in the Covid era and a significant step toward pre-pandemic normalcy, the Department reported Thursday. of Work.
Claims were expected to rise to 335,000 for the week ended Sept. 4, according to economists surveyed by Dow Jones.
The week-long total ended Sept. 4 represented a substantial drop from the previous week’s 345,000 and is the lowest since March 14, 2020. Claims may have been even lower, except for a strong hit in Louisiana. , which was attacked by Hurricane Ida and still has about 250,000 residents without electricity.
Initial applications had been around 215,000 before the pandemic was declared in March 2020. At its peak, initial applications reached 6.1 million and remained above one million a week by early August 2020. A year ago, at that time, weekly claims averaged 881,000.
Concerns have risen in recent weeks around the employment situation, especially after the Labor Department reported that non-farm payrolls rose just 235,000 in August, about a third of what Wall Street expected.
However, claims figures have averaged 339,500 in the last four weeks and support the recovery of the labor market.
Ongoing claims, which are one week behind the main number, also fell to 2.78 million, a decrease of 22,000 from the previous week, but were higher than FactSet’s estimate of 2.73 million. . This is also the lowest level since March 14, 2020. The four-week moving average of ongoing claims fell to 2.84 million.
The total number of beneficiaries of all unemployment programs fell to 11.93 million, a drop from 255,757, as extended federal benefits expire this month.
According to unadjusted data, initial claims fell more in Missouri (-7,676), Florida (-3,886) and New Yok (-3,561). These declines occurred against the gains of Louisiana (7,259), California (5,604) and Michigan (4,823), devastated by the hurricane.
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