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Jobless claims in US climb to highest level since January

2022-05-20 00:00:00.0 铸币报-政治原网页

Applications for US state unemployment insurance unexpectedly rose last week to the highest level since January, led by increased filings in Kentucky and California.

Initial unemployment claims increased by 21,000 to 218,000 in the week ended May 14, Labor Department data said on Thursday. The median estimate in a Bloomberg survey of economists called for 200,000 initial applications.

Continuing claims for state benefits dropped to 1.32 million in the week ended May 7, the lowest since 1969.

Though claims have been largely treading water since hitting more than a 53-year low of 166,000 in March, the labor market is rapidly tightening and generating strong wage gains that are helping to fan overall inflation in the economy.

There were a record 11.5 million job openings at the end of March. Claims are down from an all-time high of 6.137 million in early April 2020.

Last week's data covered the period during which the government surveyed employers for the nonfarm payrolls portion of May's employment report. Claims rose between the April and May survey period. Payrolls increased by 428,000 in April, the 12th straight month of employment gains in excess of 400,000.

Data next week on the ranks of the unemployed in mid-May, will shed more light on the state of job growth this month.

Inflation may be the only thing hotter than the U.S. job market. Last week, the government reported that U.S. producer prices soared 11% in April from a year earlier, a hefty gain that indicates high inflation will remain a burden for consumers and businesses in the months ahead.