Some 770,000 Americans filed for jobless claims last week, or about 6 percent above the previous week, demonstrating the job market's continued challenge in turning the corner with the coronavirus pandemic, Labor Department data showed Thursday
WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 18th March, 2021) Some 770,000 Americans filed for jobless claims last week, or about 6 percent above the previous week, demonstrating the job market's continued challenge in turning the corner with the coronavirus pandemic, Labor Department data showed Thursday.
"In the week ending March 13, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 770,000, an increase of 45,000 from the previous week's revised level," the department said in a news release. "The previous week's level was revised up by 13,000 from 712,000 to 725,000."
Economists polled by US media had forecast just about 700,000 jobless claims filings for last week.
The unemployment rate also rose for the first time in months, to 3.0 percent, although the rise itself was just 0.1 percent from the previous week.
Since the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic a year ago, the lowest unemployment claims had gotten down to in a week was 711,000 in the week to November 19.
The United States lost more than 21 million jobs between March and April, at the height of business lockdowns forced by the coronavirus. About 10 million of those jobs have not returned, data shows.
The US economy itself shrank 3.5 percent in 2020, after a 2.2 percent growth in 2019.
Some economists, however, pointed to the continued drop in continuing jobless weekly claims as a sign that the labor was improving, albeit incrementally. Continuing weekly claims reported with a one-week lag slid to 4.12 million for the week ended March 13, from 4.14 million during the week to March 6.
And while the sheer number of claims for last week was higher than expected, "it is lower than the month ago level of 834,000," ForexLive economist Greg Michalowski said in a post.
A year into the COVID-19 crisis, restoring jobs growth remains one of the biggest challenges of US policymakers.
The US jobs report for February showed annual unemployment stood at 6.2 percent versus the 3.5 percent reported at the end of 2019.
Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said on Wednesday the US central bank will likely keep interest rates at near-zero for the next two years until the annual employment rate fell to 4.0 percent or lower, denoting "maximum employment."
