US unemployment claims rise for third consecutive week to 362,000

Unemployment is falling in these countries as COVID-hit job markets recover

America’s employers have rapidly increased their hiring since they slashed 22 million jobs in March and April 2020 as the coronavirus outbreak and the shutdowns meant to contain it brought economic activity to a near-standstill. Since then, the economy has recovered about 17 million jobs as the rollout of vaccines encouraged businesses to open and expand hours and Americans to return to bars, restaurants and hotels.

But hiring, which has averaged more than 585,000 jobs a month this year, slowed to just 235,000 in August as the delta variant disrupted the recovery. Restaurants and bars cut nearly 42,000 jobs last month as COVID-19 cases picked up, the first drop this year. Hiring is expected to pick up to more than 560,000 this month; the Labor Department issues the September jobs report on October 8.

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Altogether, 2.8 million Americans were receiving some type of jobless aid the week of September 18, down by 18,000 from the week before. Earlier this month, the federal government stopped additional aid including USD 300 a week on top of traditional state benefits that was meant to ease the economic impact of the pandemic.