WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 30th September, 2021) US jobless claims were at 362,000 last week, remaining below the key 400,000 level for a ninth week in a row in continued recovery from the coronavirus pandemic, data from the Labor Department showed on Thursday.
"In the week ending September 25, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 362,000," the department said in a news release.
While claims in the latest week rose by 11,000 from the previous week's revised level of 351,000, they have not crossed the 400,000 bar since the week ending on July 31. That is an important indicator for the Federal Reserve, which is closely watching labor market recovery to begin tapering its monthly stimulus of $120 billion for the economy.
Economists polled by US media had forecast 330,000 unemployment claims for the latest week on file, putting what the department reported somewhat above target for a second week running.
"This week, the data shows another rise. Nevertheless, the Fed chair has said that we don't need blockbuster jobs reports to continue the track toward taper by the end of the year," economist Greg Michalowski said in a comment posted on ForexLive.
Continuing claims for the week ending on September 18 � reported with a one-week lag � slid to 2.8 million from the previous week's level of 2.82 million.�That brought the weekly unemployment rate down by 0.1% to 2.0%.
More than a year into the COVID-19 crisis, restoring job growth remains one of the main concerns of US policymakers.
The United States lost more than 21 million jobs between March and April 2020, at the height of business lockdowns forced by the coronavirus. More than 7 million of those jobs have yet to return, officials say.
The US economy itself shrank 3.5% in 2020. This year though, growth has been quite dynamic, with a 6.7% rebound for the second quarter though that was still below the 8.5% expected by economists.
The Fed thinks growth will average at 6.5% for all of 2021. But Chairman Powell also says it may take a while for "full employment" � defined by a monthly unemployment rate of 4% or lower � to occur. The monthly unemployment rate stood at 5.2% in August.
