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The numbers: The number of people who applied for unemployment benefits around Thanksgiving jumped by 28,000 to 222,000, partly reversing a big plunge in the prior week that had pushed new jobless claims down to 52-year low.
The big ups and downs in the past two weeks, however, are tied to the timing of Thanksgiving. The government’s process of adjusting jobless claims for changes in seasonal employment patterns sometimes produces unusual results around the holidays.
Still, the raw or actual number of new jobless claims also showed a sharp drop. They totaled just 211,896 last week vs. 253,518 two weeks ago.
Whatever the case, jobless claims are extremely low and expected to fall further in coming months toward precrisis levels. New filings for unemployment benefits were in the low 200,000s before viral outbreak.
Companies are laying off a record-low number of workers in response to the worst labor shortage in decades. Unless as a last resort, they don’t want to create open positions that they might not be able to fill.
Big picture: Most companies are willing to hire to fill a near-record number of open jobs. But it’s likely to be slower going until more people rejoin the labor force.
Read: Big business is making last-ditch effort to kill Biden tax increases
Many people are too afraid to go back to work, economists say, because they still fear the coronavirus or worry about schools closing again and having to be home with their kids. The omicron variant of the coronavirus could add to their angst.
An unusually high number of people also retired during the pandemic.
Companies have responded by paying more money to lure workers back and wages are rising at the fastest rate in years, but that hasn’t been enough to ease the labor crunch.
Read: ‘My business faces a dire shortage of workers,’ owner tells Congress
Market reaction: The Dow Jones Industrial Average
DJIA,
and S&P 500
SPX,
were set to open higher in Thursday trades. Stocks have fallen from record highs on worries about omicron and high U.S. inflation.
