US jobless claims increased again last week

• More Americans applied for unemployment benefits last week.
• Jobless claims for the week ending July 30 increased by 6,000 from the previous week.
• First-time applications typically reflect layoffs.

More Americans filed for jobless benefits last week as unemployment continues to rise modestly, though the labor market remains one of the strongest parts of the US economy despite rising inflation.

Jobless claims for the week ending July 30, 2022 increased by 6,000 to 260,000. That’s up from 254,000 the previous week, the Labor Department reported Thursday, Aug. 4.

Applications for unemployment increase in the US

First-time unemployment applications generally reflect layoffs. The four-week average of claims, which levels out the weekly ups and downs, also increased from the previous week, to 254,750, according to The Associated Press.

The total number of Americans who collected unemployment benefits during the week ending July 23 increased by 48,000 from the previous week, to 1,416,000. That number has been near 50-year lows for months. Filed Under: US Unemployment Application

Layoffs on the rise in the US

On Tuesday, the Labor Department reported that US employers posted fewer job openings in June as the economy grapples with persistently high inflation and rising interest rates.

Job openings fell to 10.7 million in June, which is still high, from 11.3 million in May. Job openings, which never topped 8 million in a month before last year, topped 11 million each month from December through May before falling in June. Filed Under: US Unemployment Application

More unemployment news

The Labor Department’s jobs report for July, due out Friday, is expected to show employers added another 250,000 jobs last month, which would be a healthy number in normal times but would be the lowest since December 2020, when the world economy was being devastated by the pandemic.

Economists expect the unemployment rate to remain at 3.6% for the fifth consecutive month. Although the job market is still considered strong, Tesla, Netflix, Carvana, Redfin, and Coinbase have recently announced some high-profile layoffs. A host of other companies, particularly in the tech sector, have announced hiring freezes. Filed Under: US Unemployment Application