A hiring sign is displayed at a restaurant in Prospect Heights, Ill., on April 4, 2023. The hot jobs market has been defying a weakening economy and confounding the Federal Reserve for months, but now shows signs of cooling. The latest set of employment data from the government shows that job openings fell in March to their lowest level since April 2021. Layoffs rose to 1.8 million, their highest level since December 2020. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh, File)
By Matt Ott
The number of Americans applying for unemployment benefits last week rose to its highest level since October 2021, but the labor market remains one of the healthiest parts of the U.S. economy.
The Labor Department reported Thursday that U.S. applications for jobless claims were 261,000 for the week ending June 3, an increase of 28,000 from the previous week's 233,000. Weekly jobless claims are considered representative of U.S. layoffs.
The four-week moving average of claims, which evens out some of the weekly variations, rose by 7,500 to 237,250.
Despite last week’s sharp increase in filings for unemployment aid, some analysts cautioned against concluding that layoffs are picking up across the economy. They noted that the weekly figures are prone to revision and that last week’s numbers might have been distorted by the three-day Memorial Day weekend.
“The latest reading reflects a holiday-shortened week (Memorial Day), which ought to raise suspicions that the big move was more noise than signal,” said Stephen Stanley, chief U.S. economist for Santander. “I am eager to see next week’s reading before I draw any conclusions.”
The U.S. economy has added jobs at a furious rate since the pandemic purge of more than 20 million jobs in the spring of 2020. Americans have enjoyed unusual job security, despite the Federal Reserve's aggressive campaign to cool the economy and labor market in its bid to stifle persistent, decades-high inflation.
In early May, the Fed raised its benchmark lending rate for the 10th time in a row. There have been scattered signs that the Fed’s actions are working, but broadly, the job market continues to favor workers.
U.S. employers added a robust 339,000 jobs last month, well above expectations. Last week’s report painted a mostly encouraging picture of the job market but there were some mixed messages. Notably, the unemployment rate rose to 3.7%, from a five-decade low of 3.4% in April, the highest unemployment rate since October.
In April, employers posted 10.1 million job openings, up from 9.7 million in March and the most since January. Economists had expected vacancies to slip below 9.5 million.
Those reports, along with the jobless claims numbers, could help sway Fed officials one way or the other with regard to its next rate hike move. Most economists are predicting that the Fed will pause its rate hikes at its meeting next week, though the strong labor market could convince the central bank to stay the course with another small quarter-point increase.
The U.S. economy grew at a lackluster 1.3% annual rate from January through March as businesses wary of an economic slowdown trimmed their inventories. That’s a slight upgrade from its initial growth estimate of 1.1%.
Though the labor market remains strong, there have been notable high-profile layoffs recently, mostly in the technology sector, where many companies now acknowledge overhiring during the pandemic. IBM, Microsoft, Salesforce, Twitter, Lyft, LinkedIn, Spotify and DoorDash have all announced layoffs in recent months. Amazon and Facebook parent Meta have each announced two sets of job cuts since November.
Outside the tech sector, McDonald’s, Morgan Stanley and 3M also recently announced layoffs.
Overall, 1.76 million people were collecting unemployment benefits the week that ended May 27, about 37,000 fewer than the previous week.
Markets opened higher after the Dow and S&P 500 closed at record highs on Tuesday. It comes amid a slew of strong corporate earnings reports. Frances Newton Stacy, Director of Strategy, Optimal Capital, joined Cheddar's Opening Bell.
With COP26 kicking off, roughly 120 world leaders and delegates are in Glasgow, Scotland to hold climate talks this week. As experts continue to warn about the dangers of climate change, ESG investing is more important than ever.
Georges Archibald, Head of Apex Americas at Apex Group joined Cheddar's Opening Bell to discuss.
JetBlue Travel Products is launching flight and cruise packages, making JetBlue the first domestic U.S. airline to offer customers the ability to book their flight, cruise and hotel all in one place. The new cruise packages with Royal Caribbean International, Celebrity Cruises and Carnival Cruise Line offer customers a chance to save time and money by bundling their travel purchases, with all parts of their journey backed by JetBlue’s signature service. Andres Barry, president of JTP, joined Cheddar to discuss these new offerings and how it will help establish the airline as a broader travel company.
Amazon plans to launch its first prototype satellites for Project Kuiper, an internet-from-space venture, in 2022. It's the first major step in the e-commerce giant's plan to rival SpaceX by building a network of satellites in space, providing internet to rural, underserved communities around the world. Loren Grush, senior science reporter for the Verge, discusses the project and how it could transform internet access moving forward.
While Facebook didn't unveil a name change in its Q3 results, it did reveal a new reporting structure, separating its revenue into two separate businesses: its slate of social networking apps, and Facebook reality labs.
This distinction comes as Facebook continues to ramp up its augmented and virtual reality efforts as it plots its foray into the metaverse. Angelo Zino, Senior Industry Analyst, CFRA Research, joined Cheddar's Opening Bell to discuss.
Logitech reported a record quarter, with sales up 82 percent since the same period two years ago. It comes as the company continues to benefit from current market trends including working and learning from anywhere, video everywhere, and the popularity of gaming. Bracken Darrel, CEO, Logitech, joined Cheddar's Opening Bell.
President Biden expected to unveil details on a Covid-19 vaccine mandate for businesses in coming days.
This comes just days after The White House issued separate vaccine mandates for federal contractors across the country. Mark Kluger, Founding Partner, employment law firm Kluger Healey joined Cheddar's Opening Bell to discuss.
Christie's has announced the sale of Beeple's first ever physical artwork and video NFT called 'Human One.' The hybrid piece is expected to fetch over $15 million at its upcoming auction. Noah Davis, Christie's Head of Digital Art joined Cheddar's Opening Bell.
The U.S. is introducing a new travel system on November 8, opening up our borders to millions of international visitors. But, it will make reentry more difficult for unvaccinated Americans and reinforce the Biden administration's efforts to increase vaccinations. Adit Damodaran, economist at the travel app Hopper, lays out the new policy and what travelers can expect to pay for airfare this holiday season.
Later today House Republicans will grill Snap, Tiktok and Youtube on how their products affect the mental health of teenagers. It comes after a report revealed that Facebook's photo sharing platform, Instagram, can be harmful to teen's mental health. Rishi Bharwani, Director of Partnerships and Policy, Accountable Tech joined Cheddar's Opening Bell to discuss.
