Slightly more Americans filed for jobless claims last week, but the overall number of people in the U.S. collecting unemployment benefits rose to its highest level in two years.
And we have a larger labor force now, so the number is even smaller relatively, even better when considering that.
These are trending up in this case, somewhat expected as a result of the higher interest rates that got inflation to decrease. Obviously the fed is gonna be watching these numbers closely as an indication of when to start dropping the interest rate again to avoid increases in unemployment as much as possible. Doing that too soon could reignite inflation though so it’s a balance.
Not trying to say increasing jobless applications are good or we have the greatest economy of all time with no inequality or problems or something, before a bunch of commenters put words in my mouth, just warning people to be wary of editorializing and media narratives, or generalizing too much from one thing, take things in context.
Jobless claims of 220,000 in November 2023 = oh no economy is miserable and about to crash, according to some
Jobless claims in December 2019 of 220,000 = wow, sustained labor strength great economy
Article describing the exact same number from December 2019: https://www.cnbc.com/2019/12/26/us-weekly-jobless-claims-total-222000-vs-220000-expected.html
And we have a larger labor force now, so the number is even smaller relatively, even better when considering that.
These are trending up in this case, somewhat expected as a result of the higher interest rates that got inflation to decrease. Obviously the fed is gonna be watching these numbers closely as an indication of when to start dropping the interest rate again to avoid increases in unemployment as much as possible. Doing that too soon could reignite inflation though so it’s a balance.
Not trying to say increasing jobless applications are good or we have the greatest economy of all time with no inequality or problems or something, before a bunch of commenters put words in my mouth, just warning people to be wary of editorializing and media narratives, or generalizing too much from one thing, take things in context.