United States Jobless Claims Spike – U.S. Census

United States Of America – Jobless Claims spike according to the Labor Department, the number of Americans filing new unemployment benefits increased by 55 thousand from the previous period to 286 thousand in the week ending January 15th, the highest level since mid-October and significantly more than the market expectation of 220 thousand.

New Jobless Claims

As a result of an uptick in COVID-19 cases caused by the Omicron variant, economic activity was disrupted, and employers continued to have trouble keeping workers despite record-high levels of job resignations.

On a non-seasonally adjusted basis, initial claims fell by 83 thousand to 337 thousand, with large drops recorded in New York (-14.0 thousand), Missouri (-7.5 thousand), and Texas (-7.5 thousand), among other states (-6.1 thousand).

Continued Jobless Claims

Jobless claims in the United States increased to 1.635 million in the week ending January 8th, up from a revised 1.551 million the week before and above market expectations of 1.580 million. Continuing jobless claims are a measure of unemployed people who have been receiving unemployment benefits for a long period of time.