Unemployment claims in the United States are rising unexpectedly

The number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment benefits rose unexpectedly last week, but is seen as conducive to tightening labor market conditions.

For the week ended February 12, initial demand for unemployment benefits rose by 23,000 to 248,000 seasonally adjusted, the Labor Department said on Thursday. Economists put the number of claims at 219,000 last week, according to a Reuters poll.

ல்கள் Claims have touched a three-month high since mid-January as micron variant-driven corona virus cases have devastated the country.

The United States reports an average of 145,769 new Govt-19 infections a day, up from more than 700,000 in mid-January, according to a Reuters analysis of official data.

With 10.9 million jobs registered at the end of December, there is a severe shortage of workers. This has left employers withholding their workers, pushing their demands down to pre-epidemic levels. Orders are far from a record high of 6.149 million, which was reached in April 2020.

“Some volatility in the labor market is likely to continue in the near future, and we will not be surprised to see applications fall below pre-epidemic levels in the coming months,” said Veronica Clark, a Citigroup economist in New York. York.

The U.S. economy created 467,000 jobs in January. The job market in the United States is tightening and creating strong wage growth, which is contributing to higher inflation.

The minutes of the Federal Reserve’s January 25-26 meeting, released Wednesday, show that “many” members of the US Federal Reserve “looked closely at labor market conditions to the extent that they are compatible with existing or full employment.”

The central bank is expected to start raising rates in March to control inflation, with economists predicting seven rises this year.

(By Lucia Muttigani)