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World

U.S. initial jobless claims edge down to 411,000 after rising to highest level

2021-06-25 15:27:55

WASHINGTON, June 24 (Xinhua) -- Initial jobless claims in the United States fell to 411,000 last week, after rising to the highest level in a month in the prior week, the Labor Department reported Thursday.

In the week ending on Saturday, the number of Americans filing for unemployment benefits decreased by 7,000 from the previous week's upwardly revised level of 418,000, according to a report released by the department's Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The four-week moving average, a method to iron out data volatility, increased by 1,500 to 397,750.

The latest report also showed that the number of people continuing to collect regular state unemployment benefits in the week ending June 12 decreased by 144,000 to reach 3.39 million. That number peaked in April and May last year, when it was over 20 million.

Meanwhile, the total number of people claiming benefits in all programs -- state and federal combined -- for the week ending June 5 increased by 3,756 to reach nearly 14.85 million, as the country continues to grapple with the fallout of the pandemic.

At a virtual news conference last week, U.S. Fed Chairman Jerome Powell cited four factors that seem likely to be "holding back labor supply": finding a new job, which is a process that takes longer as workers match their skills to what employers want; fear of returning to work, which should "diminish" as vaccinations move ahead; lingering childcare needs; and federal supplements to unemployment insurance.

At a hearing before the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis on Tuesday, Powell said the central bank will not raise interest rates preemptively based on inflation fears, reiterating that recent inflation surge is transitory.

The Fed chief also reiterated that the central bank intends to encourage a "broad and inclusive" recovery of the job market.

"We will not just look at the headline numbers for unemployment, we'll look at all kinds of measures of unemployment, including unemployment and employment for various groups, ethnic groups, gender groups, and things like that," Powell said. Enditem

Editor:Jiang Yiwei