US Weekly Unemployment Filings Fall To Lowest Since 1969
United States applications for unemployment benefits hit the lowest level in over five decades last week as layoff rates remain historically low despite global economic uncertainty.
The amount of Americans who applied for unemployment benefits in the week ending on July 18th declined by 22,000 to hit 187,000, the Labor Department reported this week. This marks the lowest number of weekly applications for jobless benefits since 1969, according to data from the Labor Department.
The weekly filings of unemployment benefits are viewed as a proxy for layoffs and are the closest thing to a real-time indicator of the health of the US job market, according to AP. These recent filings are also well below the 215,000 estimate that was given from data firm FactSet.
There has been a lot of economic concern in relation to the US military attack on Iran, and while it has been impacted, the US job market has remained relatively stable with historically low layoff rates.
While everything is relatively stable at the moment, analysts and financial experts have warned that a prolonged war and higher than average energy costs could eventually start to impact the job market, as companies will have to reduce certain costs by lowering the amount of people they employ.
Carl Weinberd, chief economist at High Frequency Trading, stated that “the economic crisis caused by the energy supply shock is not over yet. But the labor market has yet to show any sign of wear and tear from the surge in oil prices.”
The price of a barrel of US crude has increased by nearly 5% on Thursday to over $91, marking the highest level in around six weeks. Gas prices in the US are also remaining above $4 a gallon, on average.
The government also reported that employers have been pulling back on hiring, and have only added 57,000 jobs to the market. That marks less than 50% from the previous month and is telling that many companies are remaining cautious about adding to their work population based on the current economic state.
The unemployment rate also dropped to 4.2% from 4.3% in May. It’s also important to note that a lot of the unemployment filing rates are also caused by out-of-work individuals who gave up looking for new jobs and are no longer counted as unemployed.
Reports indicate that weekly jobless aid applications have remained mainly between 200,000 and 250,000 since the recession that occurred during the pandemic. However, hiring has been slowing within the past two years and especially in 20205 due to President Donald Trump’s tariffs, his administration’s layoffs in the federal workforce, and the after effects of high interest rates.
The total number of Americans filing for unemployment benefits for the previous week ending in July 11th was down by 2,000 to just under 1.8 million.
Eric Mastrota is a Contributing Editor at The National Digest based in New York. A graduate of SUNY New Paltz, he reports on world news, culture, and lifestyle. You can reach him at eric.mastrota@thenationaldigest.com.