Officials say the number of Americans filing new claims for jobless benefits unexpectedly rose last week, but remained at levels associated with tightening labour market conditions.
Initial claims for state unemployment benefits increased 23,000 to a seasonally adjusted 248,000 for the week ended Feb. 12, the U.S. Labor Department said on Thursday. Economists had forecast 219,000 applications for the latest week.
Claims had been declining since hitting a three-month high in mid-January as coronavirus cases, fueled by the Omicron variant, raged across the country. The United States is reporting an average of 145,769 new COVID-19 infections a day, sharply down from the more than 700,000 in mid-January, according to analysis of official data.
There is an acute shortage of workers, with a near record 10.9 million job openings at the end of December. This has left employers holding on to their workers, driving claims below their pre-pandemic levels. Claims have plunged from a record high of 6.149 million in early April 2020.
