The US Labor Department released the latest unemployment benefits data on Thursday (2nd) Last week, the adjusted number of initial jobless claims came in at 183,000, a 9-month low, below market expectations of 200,000 and 186,000 of the previous value. the number of people who continued to receive unemployment benefits also continued to fall last week, and the report showed that the job market is still hot.
As of the week of January 28, the adjusted number of initial jobless claims in the United States reported 183,000, below market expectations, a decrease of 3,000 from 186,000 last week, and a 4-week moving average of 191,700.
For the week ended January 21, the adjusted number of Americans still receiving unemployment benefits was 1.655 million, down 11,000 from last week’s revised 1.666 million and below market expectations of 1.677 million, the 4-week moving average 1.6515 million people were reported.
The jobs market, which has cooled slightly, remains tight by many indicators and remains one of the key obstacles to the Fed’s fight against inflation. Job growth has slowed in recent months and layoffs have also been seen in technology and banking, but demand for workers is still far outstripping supply, which could put upward pressure on wages and overall prices.
After the United States Federal Reserve (Fed) slowed the pace of interest rate increases to 1 yard (25 basis points) yesterday, Federal Chairman Jerome Powell emphasized that the central bank needs to see a better balance in the job market to curb inflation that is not includes housing and energy, domestic services sector inflation. He also acknowledged the progress to date in easing price pressures without weakening the jobs market.
The US non-farm payrolls report for January will be released on Friday The outside world expects employment to slow, but it is still growing strongly and the unemployment rate will remain at its lowest for 50 years. Other US data this week showed that labor costs slowed late last year, while the job opening tree rose unexpectedly.
Another report released on the same day showed that in the fourth quarter of last year, the productivity of workers in the United States increased the most in a year, and labor costs also fell. If this trend continues, it may help to ease inflation further. pressure.
Rubeela Farooqi, High Frequency Economics, said redundancies remain low and demand for workers remains strong. The labor market has yet to respond meaningfully to the rapid increase in interest rates.
Paul Ashworth, North America analyst at Capital Economics in Toronto, said even if January’s non-farm payrolls report showed no increase in unemployment, the elasticity of job opportunities was questionable and not the labor market now appears to be a significant source of inflation. pressure. .
