Labor Market Remains Healthy Despite Rising Unemployment

Labor Market , Remains Healthy , Despite Rising Unemployment.

ABC News reports that America's labor market remains strong, despite the number of new applications for unemployment benefits rising slightly last week.

For the week ending May 27, new applications for , jobless claims rose to 232,000, , climbing 2,000 from the week before.

The overall labor market reportedly remains healthy as the four-week moving average of claims dropped by 2,500 to reach 229,500.

ABC reports that the four-week moving average tends to flatten out some weekly volatility.

In April, the unemployment rate dropped to 3.4% to reach a 54-year low as employers added 253,00 jobs.

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However, repeated interest rate hikes by the Federal Reserve may be cooling the job market, as numbers for February and March were revised down by 149,000 jobs.

ABC reports that analysts expect the May jobs report to show that employers added 188,000 jobs for the month.

On May 31, the government reported that employers posted 10.1 million job openings, the highest since January.

ABC reports that the higher-than-expected job openings, combined with layoff data and an upcoming jobs report, could impact the Fed's next rate hike.

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ABC reports that the higher-than-expected job openings, combined with layoff data and an upcoming jobs report, could impact the Fed's next rate hike.

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As of the week ending May 20, 1.8 million people in the U.S. were collecting unemployment benefits, rising by nearly 6,000 from the week before.

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As of the week ending May 20, 1.8 million people in the U.S. were collecting unemployment benefits, rising by nearly 6,000 from the week before.