In the United States, approximately 751,000 individuals applied for unemployment insurance for the week ending Oct. 31.
This marks a slight decline from the previous week’s report, when 758,000 applied for benefits. Initially, the weekly claims had been put at 751,000 by the U.S. Department of Labor put were revised to $758,000.
According to the Department of Labor, the four-week moving average for unemployment insurance was 787,000. This was a decrease of 4,000 from the previous week’s report, which estimated the average at 791,000.
Employment is slowly picking up in the United States, although it has not reached pre-pandemic levels. In September, there were 661,000 non-farm jobs added to the economy. There were 1.37 million jobs added the previous month, in August.
The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that the September unemployment rate was 7.9 percent. This is a substantial decrease from the nation’s peak at 14.7 percent in April; since that time, the unemployment rate has steadily declined by one to two percent per month.
However, the current unemployment rate is significantly higher than the pre-pandemic numbers. In March 2020, the rate was 4.4 percent; in February, it was 3.5 percent; and in January, it was 3.6 percent.
The last time the national unemployment rate reached the 10 percent level was in October 2009. Since that time, the unemployment rate has declined year-over-year before skyrocketing in April 2020.
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