A hiring sign is displayed at a restaurant in Mount Prospect, Ill., Sunday, March 19, 2023. On Thursday, the Labor Department reports on the number of people who applied for unemployment benefits last week. to cool hiring, with U.S. applications for unemployment benefits down again last week and remaining at historically low levels.
Fed Chair Jerome Powell stressed that the central bank remains focused on fighting high inflation, which could require additional rate hikes. Inflation remains more than double the Fed’s 2% target, and the economy is growing and adding jobs at a healthy clip., fewer than January’s huge gain but enough to keep pressure on the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates aggressively to fight inflation. The unemployment rate rose to 3.6%, from a 53-year low of 3.4%.
It’s good news that unemployment is low. The pandemic really pushed a lot of folks into retirement and career modifications, which opened up many jobs. It will even out soon enough.