US Unemployment Claims Increase but Remain Historically Low

The number of people seeking unemployment benefits increased last week. Still, it remained historically low, indicating a strong U.S. labor market with a nearly record-high number of job openings and a few layoffs.

As per a report, the number of jobless claims jumped from 18,000 to 185,000, the Labor Department said Thursday, after almost reaching the lowest levels since 1968 in the prior week.

The four-week average of claims, which level out week-to-week ups and downs, edged from 170,000 to 172,000.

“Claims are still at very low levels, underscoring historically tight labor market conditions,” said Nancy Vanden Houten, lead U.S. economist at Oxford Economics.

“We expect initial claims to remain below (200,000) in the weeks ahead, as employers, who continue to struggle to attract and retain workers, will keep layoffs to a minimum.”

Two years after the pandemic caused the economy to enter a brief but devastating recession, American workers enjoy job security. The number of weekly applications for unemployment assistance has been consistently below the pre-pandemic rate of 225,000.

Last year, employers created a record-breaking 6.7 million jobs and added 560,000 jobs more each month so far in 2022.

The rate of unemployment that jumped to 14.7% in April 2020 in the depths of the COVID-19 recession is now just 3.6%, barely above the lowest point in 50 years. And there is a record proportion of 1.7 job openings for every unemployed American.

The resilience of the U.S. job market and economy, in general, is striking in the face of a destructive pandemic, the economic consequences of Russia’s war against Ukraine, and the highest consumer inflation in 40 years.

Fewer than 1.48 million Americans were collecting traditional unemployment aid in the week of April 2.

This story originally appeared on Associated Press.