WASHINGTON, April 14 (Prensa Latina) New weekly jobless claims rose in the United States last week after hitting their lowest level since 1968, the Labor Department said today.
For the week ended April 9, jobless claims totaled 185,000, up 18,000 from the previous week’s revised total of 167,000.
Although it remains the lowest weekly number of jobless claims in more than 50 years, according to The Hill publication, alarms are being sounded as employers are finding it increasingly difficult to hire and retain their workers.
President Joe Biden and Democrats have promised voters to keep the country’s job supply high, but Americans are increasingly concerned about rising inflation accompanying the economic recovery after two years of the COVID-19 pandemic.
There was news this week that annual inflation hit 8.5 percent in March, a new all-time high, with Russia being blamed for the war crisis in Ukraine.
However, since December 2021 – a few months before the start of Moscow’s military special operation in its neighboring country – this indicator recorded numbers not seen in the last 40 years.
The Federal Reserve (FED) began taking measures last month aimed at containing the situation without derailing the economy.
Though Fed Chair Jerome Powell is confident the bank can limit price growth without triggering a recession, economists believe the federal government has been too slow to curb inflation and is now in a rough patch.
The Fed and government didn’t act fast enough and today’s data is a testament to the fallout being felt across the country, analysts said.
mgt/age