Last week, the number of American workers filing first-time claims for unemployment assistance reached its lowest level since January, despite the Federal Reserve’s consistent effort to cool it off with interest rate hikes.
This week, though, that number edged up, though only slightly.
According to statistics released Thursday by the Labor Department, some 204,000 U.S. workers filed for unemployment assistance during the week ending Sept. 23. That’s up some 2,000 claims from the previous week.
The four-week moving average of claims, though, fell to 211,000, a drop of 6,250.
The Federal Reserve chose not to raise its benchmark borrowing rate last week, it is well into the second year of its battle to squelch four-decade high inflation. Part of the Fed’s goal in that fight has been to cool the labor market and bring down wages, but so far that hasn’t happened.
The whopping 11 interest rate hikes since March of last year have helped to curb price growth, but the U.S. economy and labor market have held up better than most expected, according to an Associated Press report.
Earlier this month, the Labor Department said U.S. employers added 187,000 jobs in August. Though the unemployment rate ticked up to 3.8%, it’s still low by historical measures.
U.S. businesses have been adding an average of about 236,000 jobs per month this year, down from the pandemic surge of the previous two years, but still a strong number.
Overall, 1.67 million people were collecting unemployment benefits the week that ended Sept. 16, about 12,000 more than the previous week.
