U.S. jobless claims rise to 286,000, highest since October
Jobless claims rose for the third straight week—by 55,000, to 286,000, the Labor Department reported Thursday. The jump in claims marked the biggest one-week increase since mid-July.
Jobless claims rose for the third straight week—by 55,000, to 286,000, the Labor Department reported Thursday. The jump in claims marked the biggest one-week increase since mid-July.
Target’s top executive said U.S. consumers will drive less and consolidate their shopping into fewer trips as they adjust to pricier gasoline and the highest inflation rate in almost four decades.
The unpredictability of shipping, labor and the coronavirus itself have created an environment where owners are often left guessing about when products might arrive and how much they’ll cost.
The weekly applications, a proxy for layoffs, have risen in four of the last five weeks, a period that runs in tandem with the spread of the omicron variant.
The Federal Reserve said its 12 regional banks found that the economy was continuing to grow, but many regions reported a sudden pullback in spending on leisure travel, hotels and restaurants because of the rapid spread of the omicron variant of the coronavirus.
Rising prices have wiped out the healthy pay increases that many Americans have been receiving, making it harder for households, especially lower-income families, to afford basic expenses.
Fed officials now expect to raise short-term interest rates three times this year, a sharp shift from September, when they were divided over doing it even once. Economists increasingly expect them to raise rates at least four times in 2022.
On Wednesday, the government is expected to report that consumer prices jumped 7.1% over the past 12 months, which would be the steepest such increase in decades.
Wages also rose sharply, a sign that companies are competing fiercely to fill their open jobs. A record-high wave of quitting, as many workers seek better jobs, is also fueling pay raises.
Economists estimated that employers added 400,000 jobs last month, according to a survey by data provider FactSet. That would mark an increase from 210,000 in November.
Employers hired 6.7 million people in November, up from 6.5 million in October, the Labor Department reported Tuesday in its monthly Jobs Openings and Labor Turnover Survey.
When the government reported that consumer inflation rocketed 6.8% in the 12 months that ended in November—the sharpest jump in nearly 40 years—the biggest factor, apart from energy, was used vehicles.
The four-week average of unemployment claims, which smooths out week-to-week volatility, fell to just above 199,000, the lowest level since October 1969.
The economy has seldom seen such a mismatch between so much demand for workers and so few people willing to work.
The results, which covered Nov. 1 through Dec. 24, were fueled by purchases of clothing and jewelry.
Personal incomes, which provide the fuel for future spending increases, rose 0.4% in November, slightly lower than the 0.5% increase in October.
The consumer confidence index—which takes into account consumers’ assessment of current conditions and the their outlook for the future—rose to 115.8 in December, the highest reading since July.
But prospects for a solid rebound going forward are being clouded by the rapid spread of the latest variant of the coronavirus.
A heightened sense of anxiety has begun to erode the willingness of some people and some businesses to carry on as usual in the face of the extraordinarily contagious omicron variant.
The government’s report last week that consumer prices jumped 6.8% over the past year showed that some of the largest cost spikes have been for such necessities as food, energy, housing, autos and clothing.