Americans applying for unemployment is down

The Associated Press reports that the number of Americans filing for unemployment benefits fell to a seven-month low, despite recent interest rate hikes put in place to slow job growth. Last week ending September 2nd, the record low numbers showed stunning resistance to recent business trends.

A report from the Labor Department on September 7 said that the number of “jobless claims” in the US last week fell by 13,000 to 216,000. The figure shows that fewer people were laid off in the last week.

A total of “1.68 million people received unemployment benefits in the week ended Aug. 26, about 40,000 fewer than the previous week. This number has not been lower since the beginning of January.”

Amid low numbers across America, employers have added There were 187,000 job openings in August, while the unemployment rate was 3.8%, a historic low for this time of year. The US economy is naturally adding nearly 250,000 jobs per month after the spike caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

A Labor Department report shows that companies had high retention rates, in addition to an increase in layoffs in the “technology sector” earlier this year. Notably, manufacturing, warehousing and retail have begun to slow hiring, but have not yet begun to shed enough jobs.

High holdings are surprisingly stubborn as the Federal Reserve raised interest rates to 5.4%, the highest rate in 20 years. The Fed is trying to lower wages and throttle the labor market, and many economists expected the unemployment rate to rise in response. However, the market was resilient.

One explanation for this unusual behavior could be that businesses are struggling to recruit their workforce to a reasonable level after massive losses during the pandemic. This explains the hiring and companies holding on to catch up with consumer demand after the “pandemic downturn.”

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