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US jobless claims dip to 184,000 and stay near 54-year low

New U.S. jobless claims fell slightly to 184,000 in mid-April and stayed near a 54-year low.

Hard times loom for US economy as job growth disappoints
Businesses have had difficulty finding workers throughout 2021, and the December employment report showed no movement in the closely watched labor force participation rate indicating the share of the population working or looking for jobs - Copyright AFP ISHARA S. KODIKARA
Businesses have had difficulty finding workers throughout 2021, and the December employment report showed no movement in the closely watched labor force participation rate indicating the share of the population working or looking for jobs - Copyright AFP ISHARA S. KODIKARA

The number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment benefits fell moderately last week, still suggesting that April was another month of strong job growth.

Jobless claims fell by 2,000 to 184,000 last week, the Labor Department said Thursday. The four-week average of claims, which levels out week-to-week volatility, rose by 4,500 to 177,250.

However Reuters suggests that the Federal Reserve is still facing a tricky balancing act of slowing demand without plunging the country into a recession, even as households continue to spend and businesses are hungry for workers to meet consumer demand.

“Economic growth may eventually hit a wall without more workers for companies to hire, but not today,” said Christopher Rupkey, chief economist at FWDBONDS in New York. “Jobless claims at near-record lows mean worker wages will continue to go up and up, guaranteeing that inflation remains more persistent and at more worrisome levels for longer than Fed officials believe.”

Market Watch is reporting that layoffs are extremely low thanks to the tightest labor market in decades. New jobless claims have totaled fewer than 200,000 in 10 of the past 11 weeks – the lowest level since 1968.

So it looks like this is a great time for workers. The U.S. has a record number of job openings, and not enough workers to fill those jobs. This is further complicated by workers leaving one job for another that is paying higher wages with better working confitions.

In 2021, employers added a record 6.7 million jobs, and they’ve added an average of 560,000 more each month so far in 2022. The unemployment rate, which soared to 14.7 percent in April 2020 in the depths of the COVID-19 recession, is now just 3.6 percent, barely above the lowest point in 50 years. And there is a record proportion of 1.7 job openings for every unemployed American.

However, rising prices are robbing Americans of the benefits of higher wages, creating the highest consumer inflation in 40 years, according to the Associated Press.

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