Americans applied for fewer unemployment benefits at the end of 2019, the Labor Department announced Thursday. The number dropped by 2,000 to 222,000 in the seven days up until December 28, although the four-week average ticked up by 4,750 to 233,250.
The report beat expectations that had predicted 225,000 new claims, according to Reuters. The result marks the third consecutive weekly decline.
“I think we’re definitely going to see slightly smaller growth month by month than what we saw in 2019 and that’s consistent with economists expectations’ of the macroeconomy weakening slightly,” in the labor market, Beth Akers, Manhattan Institute senior fellow, told Cheddar.
She will be keeping an eye on manufacturing trends and changes in policy regarding trade for indications about how job numbers will grow (or shrink) in 2020.
“If you’re looking to something to be concerned about, you can look at the four-week moving average, which is up from what it’s been over the course of the year,” Akers said. “But, by and large, these are really strong, positive numbers for the labor market.”
The number of incidents involving unruly airline passengers is growing, and so are the fines imposed by federal safety officials.
Stocks ended higher on Wall Street Friday but not enough to erase the market’s losses from earlier in the week.
Facebook is trying to pull in workplace users with a new virtual-reality app called Horizon Workrooms.
Wall Street closed out another choppy day of trading Thursday, leaving the major stock indexes on pace for a weekly loss.
The number of people seeking unemployment benefits fell last week for a fourth straight time to a pandemic low.
The question facing mask-makers now is whether they can keep up with the combined demand of consumers, hospital systems, and now schools, many of which are reopening in September with mask mandates for their students.
The names, Social Security numbers and information from driver’s licenses or other identification of just over 40 million people who applied for T-Mobile credit were exposed in a recent data breach, the company said Wednesday.
Stocks took a late turn lower on Wall Street, ending with their second straight loss.
Spirit Airlines is putting numbers on a damaging stretch of flight cancellations this summer.
T-Mobile says it is investigating a leak of its data after someone took to an online forum offering to sell the personal information of cellphone users.
