Staff of Reuters 3 Minutes to Read (Reuters) – WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Last week, the number of Americans submitting new jobless claims increased unexpectedly, indicating that the labor market’s recovery from the COVID-19 outbreak is still shaky. PHOTO FROM THE FILE: On May 8, 2020, a “Now Hiring” sign for a hand vehicle wash is visible along a street in Miami, Florida, United States. Marco Bello/REUTERS Businesses have reopened at a rapid pace, aided by a relaxation of restrictions now that the coronavirus has been fully immunized more than 155 million Americans. Despite recent job gains, the job market recovery has been everything but consistent. The Labor Department reported that initial claims for state unemployment benefits increased by 2,000 to a seasonally adjusted 373,000 for the week ending July 3. Reuters polled economists, who predicted 350,000 applications for the most recent week. The news comes after the Labor Department released an upbeat monthly jobs report last Friday, revealing that American businesses employed the most people in ten months in June. Claims have decreased from a high of 6.149 million in early April 2020, but they remain over the 200,000-250,000 range that is considered healthy. In the next weeks, the claims numbers may remain unpredictable as 25 states, primarily led by Republican governors, withdraw from federally subsidized jobless programs. A $300 weekly payment was one of them, and companies complained that it encouraged jobless people to stay at home. The early termination started on June 5 and will go until July 31, when Louisiana, the only state with a Democratic governor, will terminate the weekly check. These advantages will expire on September 6 for the remainder of the country. The number of people receiving benefits after an initial week of assistance fell 145,000 to 3.339 million in the week ending June 26 according to the claims report. In late June, 14.2 million people were getting benefits from all programs, down from 14.7 million earlier in the month. Workers, especially women, have been kept at home due to a lack of cheap child care and fears of getting the coronavirus. At the end of May, there were a record 9.2 million job opportunities, and 9.5 million people were officially unemployed in June. Lindsay Dunsmuir contributed reporting, and Chizu Nomiyama edited the piece./n
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