The number of Americans filing first-time claims for jobless benefits unexpectedly rose last week, likely as new business restrictions to control spiraling COVID-19 infections unleashed a fresh wave of layoffs, which could further slow the labor market recovery.
Initial claims for state unemployment benefits increased 31,000 to a seasonally adjusted 742,000 for the week ended Nov. 14. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast 707,000 applications for the latest week. Wall Street's main indexes opened lower due to the soaring COVID-19 cases and rise in weekly jobless claims. The dollar rose against a basket of currencies. U.S. Treasury prices were higher.Unemployment claims dropped from a record 6.867 million in March as about 80per cent of the people temporarily laid off in March and April were rehired. That accounted for most of the rebound in job growth over the last six months.
Claims remain above their 665,000 peak during the 2007-2009 Great Recession. The claims data covered the period that the government surveyed businesses for the nonfarm payrolls portion of November's employment report.