(Washington) US weekly jobless claims rose last week to their highest level since mid-January, but the labor market remains tight.
Posted at 9:48 a.m.
From June 26 to July 2, 235,000 people filed for unemployment benefits, up 4,000 from the previous week, according to Labor Department data released Thursday.
This number is slightly higher than the expectations of economists who expected 234,000 registrations.
“While we believe there is a risk of further increases in jobless claims as economic growth slows, we do not expect a sharp rise” in the short term, commented Nancy Vanden Houten, economist at Oxford Economics. .
According to her, the announcements of layoffs in certain sectors remain “anecdotal”, “the labor market remains quite tense and the demand for workers is still historically high”.
The United States has for months recorded a record level in the number of job vacancies (11.3 million in May) and a very low unemployment rate (3.6%).
Since the spring of 2021, employers, faced with labor shortages and massive resignations each month (another 4.3 million in May), have been hesitant to lay off workers and instead offer improved salary conditions to retain their employees. and recruit new employees.
Economists, however, observe that wage increases have begun to moderate, signaling that the era of wage demands that has swept the United States since the fall may soon be over.
On average over four weeks, applications for unemployment registration are also up (+750 to 232,500).
The Labor Department will release its June jobs report on Friday.
A consensus of analysts expects 250,000 job creations last month, against 390,000 in May, with an unchanged unemployment rate.