Initial filings for unemployment dropped to 166,000, well below the Dow Jones estimate of 200,000 and 5,000 below the previous week’s total
Highlights
- Initial filings for unemployment dropped to 166,000, well below the Dow Jones estimate of 200,000 and 5,000 below the previous week’s total.
- The Labor Department revised claims from 2017 to 2021 and changed the seasonal factors it is using to calculate the numbers.
- The numbers nevertheless reflect a jobs market that is subject to a severe worker shortage.
- There are about 5 million more employment openings than there are available workers, a situation that has driven up wages and contributed to spiraling inflation.
- Despite the economy’s various obstacles, hiring has remained brisk, with nonfarm payrolls climbing by nearly 1.7 million in the first quarter of 2022.