Data from the US Department of Labor released today showed that the number of applications for unemployment benefits for the first time in the United States fell last week by the largest amount since last June, which indicates that employers continue to retain workers, in a labor market that is gradually declining.
The ministry said that the number of applications for unemployment benefit decreased during the week ending November 18 by 24 thousand applications to 209 thousand applications.
The number of applications for continuous unemployment benefit decreased during the week ending November 11 to 1.84 million applications, a decrease of 22 thousand applications from the previous week, the first decline in this number in two months.
The average number of applications for unemployment benefits for the first time over the past four weeks has also decreased to 220 thousand applications per week, a decrease of 750 applications from the previous week.
Despite the recent decline, the number of applications for unemployment benefits in general tends to rise.
The number of continuous subsidy applications in the previous week was 1.862 million according to the revised data, while preliminary estimates indicated 1.865 million applications.
The average number of continuous subsidy applications increased during 4 weeks to one million 836.75 thousand applications per week, while the average in the previous week was one million and 8.225 thousand applications, to record its highest level since December 2021.
