U.S. Jobless Claims Down 30K to 260K in Jan. 22 Week
January 27 2022 - 9:08AM
Dow Jones News
By Bryan Mena
Filings for unemployment benefits fell early this year as the
tight labor market, with low layoffs and plentiful job openings,
faced the disruptions caused by the Omicron variant of
Covid-19.
Initial jobless claims, a proxy for layoffs, fell to 260,000 for
the week ended Jan. 22, a decrease of 30,000 from the revised level
the week before, the Labor Department said Thursday. The four-week
moving average, which smooths volatility, edged slightly higher
that same week.
After declining through most of 2021, the number of new claims
reached the lowest point in five decades by December. More
recently, claims had moved higher as the Omicron variant began to
ratchet up the number of Covid-19 cases throughout the country,
causing some workers to call in sick, businesses to temporarily
shut down and schools to pivot to online learning.
Some economists attributed the increase to volatility in the
data while others saw it as a consequence of the Omicron variant.
Claims are well down from a year ago, when more than 800,000
applications were filed a week.
Write to Bryan Mena at bryan.mena@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
January 27, 2022 08:53 ET (13:53 GMT)
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