US Initial Jobless Claims at 790,000... Down 19,000 from Previous Week

[Image source=Reuters Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Kwon Jae-hee] The U.S. Department of Labor announced on the 11th (local time) that the number of new unemployment benefit claims last week (January 31 to February 6) was recorded at 793,000.

This is a decrease of 19,000 claims from the previous week but still higher than the expert forecast of 760,000 compiled by Bloomberg News. The previous week's claims were revised upward from the initially reported 779,000 to 812,000.

The number of continuing unemployment benefit claims, which are claims filed for at least two consecutive weeks, was 4.5 million, down 145,000 from the previous week.

Compared to mid-last month when new unemployment claims surpassed 900,000 again, the unemployment situation appears to have significantly eased. This is attributed to the decrease in COVID-19 cases and the increase in vaccinated individuals, allowing economic activities to gradually resume.

However, U.S. media pointed out that there is still a long way to go before the labor market fully recovers.

CNBC reported, "More than 10 million Americans who lost their jobs in the early stages of the pandemic last spring are still unemployed."

Before the COVID-19 crisis began to seriously impact the labor market in early March last year, new unemployment claims in the U.S. were around 210,000 to 220,000 per week. However, claims surged to 3.3 million in the third week of March and 6.87 million in the fourth week, marking over 1 million claims for 20 consecutive weeks.

Meanwhile, the U.S. Congress is currently discussing a bill to extend the additional $400 weekly unemployment benefits until August.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.