The number of Americans filing for unemployment benefits for the first time last week rose to the highest level in a month, the Department of Labor said Thursday.
The week ending Sept. 18 saw 351,000 jobless claims, the highest level since the week of Aug. 21, surpassing expectations. The number was 16,000 higher than the previous week’s revised level of 335,000.
Unemployment Insurance Weekly Claims
— US Labor Department (@USDOL) September 23, 2021
Initial claims were 351,000 for the week ending 9/18 (+16,000).
Insured unemployment was 2,845,000 for the week ending 9/11 (+131,000).https://t.co/ys7Eg5LKAW
The Dow Jones predicted the level would drop to 320,000 claims.
“Hoped for progress on new claims for jobless benefits was not to be in the latest snapshot, posting a second straight weekly increase,” said Mark Hamrick, senior economic analyst at Bankrate, reports the New York Post. “Part of the explanation behind the increase is seen with significant jumps coming from California and Virginia, providing a total of 37,000 new claims. At the same time, hurricane-battered Louisiana posted a decline.”
Weekly new claims have fallen substantially from the 2020 peak of about 6.1 million new claims in a single week, but remain above pre-pandemic levels.
After a summer that saw new jobless claims settle at nearly double pre-pandemic levels, new jobless claims appear to be steadily falling — despite the setback presented by the last two weeks of data.
The country was averaging just over 200,000 new claims per week in 2019.
“The economy still has some heavy lifting to do under the presumption that further progress will be made in the coming months while putting the pandemic behind,” Hamrick said. (NY Post)
GOP lawmakers seized on the news to criticize President Biden.
The border is a disaster, inflation is up, prices are rising, our allies don’t respect us, our adversaries are getting stronger, we’re in the largest hostage crisis in American history…
— Mark Meadows (@MarkMeadows) September 23, 2021
And now today: “U.S. weekly jobless claims higher than expected”
Joe Biden is beating expectations once again!
— Lauren Boebert (@laurenboebert) September 23, 2021
Jobless claims were expected to be 320,000 but they actually are 31,000 worse than projected!
Another dismal jobs report as jobless claims remain higher than estimated.
— Congressman Byron Donalds (@RepDonaldsPress) September 23, 2021
Biden’s plan to keep the American people dependent on the government is working, but our economy and businesses across the nation are suffering.
Bidenomics is just another major failure of this admin. https://t.co/4E0mtPyp6D