1 of 4 | The Fearless Girl Statue is seen outside the New York Stock Exchange on Wall Street in New York City. The Labor Department said on Thursday that more than 240,000 U.S. workers filed for new unemployment benefits last week, the highest level since late November in 2021. File Photo by John Angelillo/UPI |
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The figure is the highest it's been since last November and is close to the lowest post-COVID19 pandemic level, 256,000.
The number of new claims was higher than most economists predicted. They said they expected Thursday's report to show a total of about 235,000 new claims.
Thursday's report came one day after tech giant Microsoft announced that it planned to cut 1% of its workforce. File Photo by John Angelillo/UPI
First-time jobless filings have been around the 230,000 mark since last month and reached a contemporary low of 166,000 in March.
Thursday's report also marked the ninth straight week that initial claims were above 200,000 and sixth consecutive week above 230,000.
The four-week moving average rose to about 235,700, a slight weekly increase, and the total number of all jobless claims was 1.3 million.