Fewer jobless claims filed last week

Last week fewer workers filed for jobless aids, which might be an indication that the Omicron wave that affected many businesses is receding. According to the Labor Department, 238,000 people filed for jobless claims last week, which is down 23,000 from the week before that. In the week that ended January 22, a total of 1.6 million workers were collecting jobless aid. Nancy Vanden Houten from Oxford Economics says, "We expect continued claims to stay at these levels or decline further as health conditions improve and faster and broader wage growth draws more workers back into the labor market. 

Jobless claims which are a proxy for layoffs are followed closely by economists. These numbers have more or less fallen steadily since summer 2020 and hit a 50-year low as the job market tightened. However, while the job market improved during the brief recession of coronavirus, employers likely shed jobs in January as the Omicron wave swept through the country, affecting g restaurants and delaying events. 

ADP reported on Wednesday that private payrolls this month fell by 300,000 and a government report is expected to show job losses of about 250,000. Robert Frick, corporate economist at the Navy Federal Credit Union said in a note, "The country was at peak Omicron when surveys were taken for January jobs numbers, so we can expect weak employment figures in tomorrow's release, and possibly a net loss in jobs."

Source: CBS News