The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
U.S. jobless claims up by 4K to 353K; experts unfazed
WASHINGTON — The number of Americans applying for unemployment benefits rose for the first time in five weeks even though the economy and job market have been recovering briskly from the coronavirus pandemic.
What happened
Jobless claims edged up by 4,000 to 353,000 from a pandemic low 349,000 a week earlier, the Labor Department reported Thursday. The four-week average of claims, which smooths out week-toweek volatility, fell by 11,500 to 366,500 — lowest since midmarch 2020, when the coronavirus was beginning to slam the United States.
What it means
The weekly count has fallen more or less steadily since topping 900,000 in early January as rollout of COVID-19 vaccines has helped the economy, spurring businesses to reopen or expand hours and luring consumers out of their homes to restaurants, bars and shops.
“We expect jobless claims to remain on a downward path as the labor market continues to recover, but progress will be more fitful as claims get closer to pre-pandemic levels,” economists Nancy Vanden Houten and Gregory Daco of Oxford Economics said in a research note.
Why it matters
Filings for unemployment benefits have traditionally been seen as a realtime measure of the job market’s health. But their reliability has deteriorated during the pandemic. In many states, the weekly figures have been inflated by fraud and by multiple filings from unemployed Americans as they navigate bureaucratic hurdles to try to obtain benefits. Those complications help explain why the pace of applications remains comparatively high.
The job market has been rebounding with vigor since the pandemic paralyzed economic activity last year and employers slashed more than 22 million jobs in March and April 2020. The United States has since recovered 16.7 million jobs. And employers have added a rising number of jobs for three straight months, including a robust 943,000 in July. They have been posting job openings — a record 10.1 million in June — faster than applicants are lining up to fill them.