[ad_1]
First-time unemployment claims were higher than expected last week, with 719,000 more workers heading to the unemployment line, the Labor Department reported on Thursday.
The total compared to the Dow Jones estimate of 675,000 and was above the revised downward 658,000 last week.
While the number of weekly claims remains excessively high compared to historic measures, the trend is down now that the US economy continues to reopen and nearly 3 million Americans are vaccinated against Covid-19 every day.
Continuing claims, which run a week behind headlines, have fallen from 46,000 to just under 3.8 million.
“Taking the two weeks together, it’s clear that the claims trend is down,” wrote Ian Shepherdson, chief economist at Pantheon Macroeconomics. “We expect a sharp sustained decline in the second quarter as the economy reopens, which will allow financially troubled companies to retain their employees.”
Another sign of the declining trend in unemployment, the four-week moving average of claims fell to 719,000, the lowest since March 14, 2020, just as the pandemic began.
The total number of benefit recipients also fell sharply, falling from 1.5 million to 18.2 million, largely due to a decrease in the number of benefit recipients linked to the pandemic. These data are two weeks late.
At the state level, Virginia (+30,696), Kentucky (15,869), Georgia (11,862) and California (9,628) had the largest gains, according to unadjusted data.
The report comes a day before the government’s non-farm labor count for March, which is expected to post a gain of 675,000, which will follow February’s 379,000. Ohio (-15,718) and Massachusetts (-12,755) recorded the largest declines.
Along with efforts to fight the virus, the Biden administration continues to spend money to stimulate an economy that is showing signs of solid growth. The president on Wednesday presented a $ 2 trillion spending plan that will build on more than $ 5 trillion in stimulus already spent or announced in programs to lift the country out of the crisis.
As the pace of job gains slowed at the start of winter, recent indications are that hiring has picked up.
Payroll processing firm ADP estimated companies added 517,000 workers in March, the fastest pace since September. Recent manufacturer reports also show plans for more hiring, and job gains appear to be strongest in the struggling hospitality sector, which has suffered the worst losses due to social distancing and restrictions imposed by the government.
[ad_2]
Source link