WASHINGTON: The number of Americans who seek unemployment benefits rose last week to 332,000 from a low pandemic, a sign that deteriorating Covid infection might experience a slight increase in layoffs.
The application for unemployment assistance rose from 312,000 previous week, the workforce department said Thursday.
Unemployment claims, which generally track the pace of layoffs, have fallen steadily for two months as employers, struggling to fill jobs, have held their employees.
Two weeks ago, unemployment claims reached the lowest level since March 2020.
Unemployment claims rose 4,000 in Louisiana, evidence that the Ida storm had caused widespread job losses in the country.
Ida is likely to disable economic growth in the July-September quarter at present, even though repair and development efforts are expected to regain the losses in the coming months.
However, Ida closed the oil refinery in Louisiana and Mississippi about two weeks ago and left more than 1 million homes and businesses without electricity.
But the Impact of IDA is limited: the application for unemployment assistance fell slightly in Mississippi.
The wider job and economy market has been slowed in recent weeks by the Delta variant, which has understated many Americans from traveling, living in hotels and eating outside.
Earlier this month, the government reported that employers added only 235,000 jobs in August after adding around one million people in June and July.
Hiring in August dropped in the industry that needed face-to-face contact with the public, especially restaurants, hotels and retailers.
However, some work added in other areas, and the unemployment rate actually fell to 5.2% from 5.4%.
A steady decrease in weekly applications for unemployment benefits to coincide with the argical assistance for American unemployment.
Last week, more than 8 million people lost all the benefits of their unemployment with the end of two federal programs that included performers and people who had been unemployed for more than six months.
The emergency program was made in March 2020, when the first pandemic tore the economy.
An additional 2.7 million people who received regular state unemployment assistance lost the Federal Unemployment Supplement of $ 300 per week last week.