By Arlenys Tabare
According to data published this Thursday by the Department of Labor, 5,000 new unemployment applications were added in the last week of May, rising to the seasonal 215,000 amid a drop in the number of layoffs.
Although jobless claims have increased rapidly in recent weeks, They still remain in the range of 190,000 and 230,000despite the strong economic uncertainty caused by the war against Iran.
In this regard, economists such as Carl Weinberg, head of High Frequency Economics, point out that the rebound in unemployment claims from last week to this week is trivial in a labor market of 159 million workers.
However, In the second week of May alone, the total number of people collecting unemployment increased from 15,000 to 1.79 million. With an unemployment rate above 4%.
Although, except for technology companies, the number of companies that have resorted to layoffs is low; However, employers have reduced the pace of hiring, since between January and April only about 76,000 jobs have been created per month on average.
On the other hand, in the last three months consumer confidence has plummeted due to inflationary pressures caused by the rise in energy prices due to the development of the war in the Middle East.
A Conference Board survey released Tuesday of this week not only shows growing economic dissatisfaction on the part of American consumers, but also about a tight labor market. A high percentage of those surveyed stated that it is currently difficult to find employment.
According to Dana Peterson, chief economist at the Conference Board, “references to prices, oil and gas increased in frequency for the second month in a row, while mentions of war, geopolitics and conflict remained elevated, likely indicating consumers’ underlying concern about the inflationary impact of the war in the Middle East on their pocketbooks,” he said.
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