ECONOMY. The week closed with 310 thousand requests / Pixabay.
The number of Americans who filed for unemployment benefits last week fell to 310,000, according to Labor Department data. The fact indicates that despite the incidence of the delta variant in the increase in COVID-19 cases, the situation has not triggered mass layoffs.
Because it is important?: While the federal government struggles to increase the vaccination rate in every corner of the country, the rise in infections could generate measures that slow down the total reactivation of the economy; however, data from the Department of Labor confirm the downward trend in claiming benefits.
- What was revealed this Thursday by the agency shows that 35 thousand fewer people applied for unemployment benefits compared to the previous period.
- The figure has been in free fall after the 900 thousand applications registered in January of this year, when vaccination still did not boast high percentages.
The data: With this, there are six decreases with respect to the request for unemployment benefits in the last seven weeks, encouraging news for the country despite the Federal Reserve confirming on Wednesday that the national economy was reduced between the months of July and August.
- Regarding the rate of hiring, August closed with 235 thousand new jobs, less than half of what was expected by specialists.
- Despite the news, the unemployment rate fell slightly from 5.4% to 5.2%, the Labor Department reported last week.
Main source of the news: POLITICO
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