The number of Americans who filed new unemployment claims increased to 286,000 in the week ending Jan. 15, as the labor market continues to recover after surging COVID-19 cases.
The Labor Department figure shows a 55,000 claim increase compared to the week ending Jan. 8 when claims increased to 231,000. Economists surveyed by The Wall Street Journal expected claims would decrease to 225,000, MarketWatch reported.
COVID-19 cases have continued to soar throughout the country causing weaker growth forecasts, but some experts the Omicron coronavirus variant to further disrupt the demand for workers, the WSJ reported.
“Someone who’s dependable, who’s been on the job for a year and doesn’t need to learn the ropes—you don’t want to lay that person off when you’re expecting a spring thaw” in economic activity, Automatic Data Processing (ADP) economist Nela Richardson told the WSJ.
The U.S. economy added only 199,000 in December 2021, but unemployment fell to 3.9% from November’s 4.2% figure. Meanwhile, roughly 6.5 million Americans remained out of work at the end of 2021 as the economy was still 3.5 million jobs short of pre-pandemic levels.
Content created by The Daily Caller News Foundation is available without charge to any eligible news publisher that can provide a large audience. For licensing opportunities of our original content, please contact licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org
The Vatican swiftly imposed its harshest penalty of excommunication against bishops belonging to an ultra-traditionalist…
Congress is planning to crack down on birth tourism after the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent…
The Mortgage Bankers Association’s recent report appears to show that immigration contributes to an increase…
June’s jobs report is a one-off following several months of very strong jobs days, and it doesn’t…
A federal judge ruled Wednesday that the U.S. Postal Service cannot carry out President Donald…
Birthright citizenship remains intact to the relief of our foreign adversaries, thanks to Justices Barrett and…