WASHINGTON: Even though overall circumstances are still tight, more Americans last week filed new applications for unemployment benefits, suggesting some softening in the labour market.
The Labor Department said on Thursday that initial claims for state unemployment benefits increased by 6,000 to a seasonally adjusted 260,000 for the week ending July 30. Reuters polled economists, who predicted 259,000 applications for the most recent week.
Beginning in June, claims surpassed 230,000, reaching an eight-month high of 261,000 in mid-July. They still fall short of the 270,000–300,000 threshold, which economists believe would indicate a significant slowdown in the labour economy.
In the first half, the economy contracted by 1.3 percent, meeting the standard definition of a recession. However, with the labour market still creating jobs at a rapid pace and layoffs remaining low, the economy is not in recession, despite the fact that overall momentum has slowed. The two consecutive quarterly declines in GDP have been largely attributed to wild swings in inventories and a trade deficit linked to clogged global supply chains.
At the end of June, there were 10.7 million job openings, with 1.8 openings for every unemployed worker.
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