AFP
The number of Americans filing for unemployment benefits for the first time rose to the highest level since mid-August, another indication that the U.S. labor market is cooling.
Jobless claims totaled 231,000 in the week ended Nov. 11, the Labor Department said in a statement Thursday. The number surpassed the estimate of 220,000 in a Reuters’ survey of economists. The four-week average rose to 220,250, the highest in two months.
Another signal of a slowdown was the advance number for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment, which rose to 1.87 million in the week ending Nov. 4. It’s the highest level since the end of November 2021, the report said. The data reflects the total number of people receiving unemployment benefits in the country.
The Federal Reserve said on Nov. 1 that the current level of interest rates is likely to have an impact on economic activity, hiring, and inflation. The Fed also noted that job gains have moderated since earlier in the year. The key interest rate is now in the range of 5.25% to 5.5%, the highest in 22 years.
Another Labor Department report released on Nov. 3 showed that the U.S. economy sharply reduced the pace of job creation in October and the unemployment rate rose to the highest level in almost two years. Non-farm payrolls increased by 150,000 jobs in October, almost half from a month earlier, while the unemployment rate rose to 3.9% from 3.8% in September.
