Unemployment Claims Fall to Pandemic Low Amid Tight Labor Market

The Department of Labor reported that the fig of Americans filing caller claims for jobless benefits dropped to a 19-month-low past week.

First-time filings for unemployment claims totaled 290,000 for that week ended connected Oct. 16, according to the agency, reporting that the fig was down 6,000 from the erstwhile week. The information released Thursday besides showed authorities unemployment rolls shrinking importantly earlier successful October.

It was besides the 2nd consecutive week that claims remained beneath 300,000 arsenic employers clasp connected to workers successful the look of an acute labour shortage. Some economists surveyed by Dow Jones past week predicted 300,000 unemployment claims.

Claims person declined from a grounds precocious of 6.149 cardinal successful aboriginal April 2020. A 250,000 to 300,000 scope for claims is seen arsenic accordant with a steadfast labour market.

“We stay skeptical that the extremity of expanded unemployment benefits volition pb to a important and speedy instrumentality to the labour unit successful the near-term,” said Veronica Clark, an economist astatine Citigroup successful New York.

Meanwhile, Robert Frick, a firm economist astatine Navy Federal Credit Union, told the Wall Street Journal that unemployment claims would beryllium restored to their pre-COVID-19 levels by the extremity of 2021.

“Employers are clinging to employees fixed it’s truthful hard to hire, it’s truthful hard to retain,” helium remarked.

But successful August, a grounds 4.3 cardinal radical discontinue their jobs crossed the U.S., Labor Department information shows. That figure—driven by a surge of quits successful the bars, restaurants, and hotels industry—represents the highest fig of monthly resignations since December 2000.

Workers who discontinue are usually not eligible to person unemployment benefits and are not counted among the Labor Department’s play claimants, dissimilar those who were laid off.

“While wide layoffs person been avoided of late, helping jobless claims to decline, galore who are employed consciousness immoderate operation of empowerment, restlessness and/or exhaustion. This is borne retired successful the grounds fig of workers quitting their jobs and strikes among national members popping up astir the nation,” Mark Hamrick, Bankrate elder economical analyst, told Yahoo.

“Making matters worse, ostentation is eroding wage gains for some, fueling tendency to find caller employment with amended pay, moving conditions and flexibility,” helium added.

The department’s play study comes aft the September jobs study showed that lone 194,000 jobs were added for the month—far little than analysts had anticipated. Some had predicted that 500,000 jobs would beryllium added past month, coming after a disappointing 366,000 jobs were added successful August.

Labor Secretary Marty Walsh said the caller jobs study was “not the champion number” and blamed the lagging economical indicators connected the COVID-19. He argued that workers are fearful of going backmost to enactment owed to a flare-up of the microorganism successful definite regions.

“There’s nary question that we person enactment to do. Number one, we’re inactive surviving with a pandemic, it’s a worldwide pandemic,” Walsh ​told “Axios connected HBO” Sunday evening. ​​​​

“Also, radical acrophobic astir the Delta variant, radical acrophobic astir their idiosyncratic health. We person folks that are vaccinated, folks that aren’t vaccinated, radical who are vaccinated disquieted astir the radical that aren’t vaccinated,” helium ​continued, without mentioning COVID-19 vaccine mandates.

Reuters contributed to this report.