Updates to our Terms of Use

We are updating our Terms of Use. Please carefully review the updated Terms before proceeding to our website.

Thursday, March 28, 2024 | Back issues
Courthouse News Service Courthouse News Service

Weekly Unemployment Claims Up From 49-Year Low

(CN) – The Labor Department said Thursday that 53,000 more Americans applied for unemployment benefits last week, an increase from the 49-year low the week before.

FILE - In this Thursday, Nov. 2, 2017, photo, a recruiter in the shale gas industry, left, speaks with an attendee of a job fair in Cheswick, Pa. Employers in the United States are thought to have kept up their brisk pace of hiring in June 2018, reflecting the durability of the second-longest U.S. economic expansion on record even in the face of a trade war with China. Economists have estimated that 195,000 jobs were added last month and that the unemployment rate remained at an 18-year low of 3.8 percent, according to data provider FactSet. (AP Photo/Keith Srakocic, File)

The 253,000 weekly applications for jobless aid is the highest number since September 2017, according to the government’s report, but is still low enough to indicate job security for most workers and the figures are expected to drop soon.

The more stable four-week average for unemployment claims increased by 5,000 last week to just over 220,000.  

After the 35-day government shutdown ended last week, the number of federal workers applying for unemployment checks dropped 42 percent to 14,739. Those numbers are tracked in a separate category and aren’t included in overall unemployment figures.

Last week’s seasonally adjusted 199,000 applications for jobless benefits marked the lowest number since November 1969.

Employers added a robust 312,000 jobs in December. The jobs report for January is out Friday and is expected to show about 165,000 new hires.  

Categories / Economy, Employment, National

Subscribe to Closing Arguments

Sign up for new weekly newsletter Closing Arguments to get the latest about ongoing trials, major litigation and hot cases and rulings in courthouses around the U.S. and the world.

Loading...