Fewer Americans seek unemployment assistance

The Department of Labor on Wednesday reported that around 267,000 Americans applied for first-time weekly unemployment assistance last week, the lowest number since March 2020. Despite the rising rate of inflation and the ongoing pandemic, jobless claims have fallen rapidly in recent months even with weakened consumer activity, staffing shortages and supply chain delays. The weekly average is now at 278,000, compared with around 225,000 when the disease first erupted in the spring of last year. 

Nancy Vanden Houten, an economist at Oxford Economics says, "Initial claims should continue to fall back toward pre-pandemic levels as employers facing shortages of workers will likely keep layoffs to a minimum. Continued claims should continue to fall as more individuals return to the labor market and as benefits expire." During the week ending October 23, 511,000 Americans filed for pandemic-related unemployment assistance. A total of 2.6 million people across the country were collecting unemployment insurance in the week ending October 23. Labor data shows that this number is down 107,000 from the previous week. 

Hiring sped up in October and employers added 531,000 jobs. The unemployment rate in the US fell to 4.6%, which has also been the lowest since March 2020. Most recent jobless claims are due to business closures. A report also showed that more than 5,000 workers in the country were laid off in October because they refused to comply with the employer's vaccine mandate. 

Source: CBS News