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What Happened: According to a report released by the Labor Department on Thursday, 230,000 Americans claimed first-time jobless benefits over the last week, a 23,000 increase from the previous week and the highest number since mid-November, 2021. The weekly applications have risen over four of the last five weeks. Many economists believe that this increase is coinciding with the spread of the omicron variant of Covid-19. In total, 1.6 million collected unemployment aid for th

What Happened: According to a report released by the Labor Department on Thursday, 332,000 Americans claimed first-time jobless benefits over the last week, a 20,000 increase from the previous week. Despite the increase, the four-week average of jobless claims dropped for the fifth straight week to 336,000, a pandemic low. Last week, two federal unemployment aid programs expired ending unemployment benefits for over 8 million people. One of the programs provided aid to people

What Happened: According to a report released by the Labor Department on Thursday, 340,000 Americans claimed first-time jobless benefits over the last week, a 14,000 drop from the previous week and the lowest number since the start of the pandemic last year. The seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 2.0 percent for the week ending Aug. 21, a decrease of 0.1 percent from the previous week and the lowest level for insured unemployment since March 14, 2020. Two feder

What Happened: On Thursday, the Commerce Department released a report showing that the US economy grew a robust 6.5% in the second quarter, another sign that the economy is in a recovery. With the acceleration in the nation's GDP (gross domestic product), the total size of the economy has actually surpassed the pre-pandemic level. The quarterly numbers, although positive, were lower than what analysts had expected, mostly due to supply chain bottlenecks. Consumer spending als

What Happened: The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 726 points on Monday amid escalating concerns over the Covid-19 Delta variant. This is the largest drop of 2021 and the biggest fall since October of last year. The recent upswing in new Covid infections has led to concerns over the post-pandemic economic recovery. Increased inflation numbers also have investors anxious about the stability of the market. Overall, the DOW fell 2.09%, the S&P fell 1.59% and the Nasdaq fell 1.

What Happened: According to a report released by the Labor Department on Thursday, 364,000 Americans claimed first-time jobless benefits over the last week, a 51,000 drop from the previous week and the lowest number since the start of the pandemic last year. The report comes out one day before the much anticipated June Non-Farm Jobs Report which is expected to show a gain of roughly 700,000 new jobs and a slight decrease in the unemployment rate. Although analysts are hopeful

What Happened: According to a report released by the Labor Department on Thursday, 411,000 Americans claimed first-time jobless benefits over the last week, a slight 7,000 decrease from the previous week which had seen a surprise increase in applications for the first time in 6 weeks. The insured unemployment rate was 2.4% for the week ending June 12, a slight decrease of 0.1%. This is the lowest level for insured unemployment since March 21, 2020. Analysts are hopeful that t

What Happened: According to a report released by the Labor Department on Thursday, 412,000 Americans claimed first-time jobless benefits over the last week, a 37,000 increase from the previous week, which had been a pandemic low. Analysts were surprised at the increase as applications for unemployment aid had been dropping for six weeks straight and the job market has been showing signs of strengthening. Economists were expecting the number to be around 360,000 and that the

What Happened: According to a report released by the Labor Department on Thursday, 406,000 Americans claimed first-time jobless benefits over the last week, a 38,000 drop from the previous week and the lowest number since the start of the pandemic last year. This is an encouraging sign that layoffs are slowing down because of an improving job market and that the economy is on a rebound. Despite the positive trends, some businesses are having difficulty finding applicants for

What Happened: According to a report released by the Labor Department on Thursday, 444,000 Americans claimed first-time jobless benefits over the last week, a 34,000 drop from the previous week and the lowest number since the start of the pandemic last year. Despite the lower than expected jobs report earlier this month, this is an encouraging sign that layoffs may be slowing down because of an improving job market. With the job market seemingly heading in the right directio

What’s Happening: On Wednesday, President Biden plans to unveil his $1.8 trillion “American Families Plan.” The massive plan contains federal investments in education, child care and paid family leave and is the second half of Biden’s two-part plan to revitalize the nation and help the economic recovery. The plan would make permanent several of the tax credits that were contained in the Covid Relief Bill Congress passed earlier this year. The White House says the bill will pa

What Happened: On Tuesday, the Conference Board reported that US consumer confidence has risen sharply for the second straight month to 121.7 in April (up from 109.0 in March), the highest number since the pandemic began last year. The rapid vaccine rollout, the additional financial support passed by Congress in the last Covid Relief Bill and an improving job market are credited with the increase in US consumer optimism. The Expectation Index, an index which measures consumer

What Happened: According to a report released by the Labor Department on Thursday, 547,000 Americans claimed first-time jobless benefits over the last week, nearly a 30,000 drop from the previous week and the lowest number since the start of the pandemic last year. An encouraging sign that layoffs may be slowing down because of an improving job market. With the accelerated rollout of Covid-19 vaccinations, the passage of Biden's Covid-19 Relief Bill and a job market that has

What Happened: According to a report released by the Labor Department on Thursday, 576,000 Americans claimed first-time jobless benefits over the last week, nearly a 200,000 drop from the previous week and the lowest number since the start of the pandemic last year. With the accelerated rollout of Covid-19 vaccinations, the passage of Biden's Covid-19 Relief Bill and a job market that has been slowly strengthening, economists are hopeful that this is a sign of an improving ec

What Happened: According to a report released by the Labor Department on Thursday, 684,000 more Americans claimed first-time jobless benefits over the last week, the lowest number since the start of the pandemic last year and below the projected number of 735,000. With a decline in confirmed coronavirus cases, the passage of Biden's Covid-19 Relief Bill and a job market that has been slowly strengthening, economists are hopeful that this is a sign of an improving economy. Fou

What Happened: According to a report released by the Labor Department on Thursday, 770,000 more Americans claimed first-time jobless benefits over the last week, an increase of 45,000 from the previous week. The four-week average of jobless claims dropped to 746,000, the lowest since November, 2020. Despite the slight increase over this last week, with the decline in confirmed coronavirus cases, the passage of Biden's Covid-19 Relief Bill and a job market that has been slowly

What Happened: According to a report released by the Labor Department on Thursday, 712,000 more Americans claimed first-time jobless benefits over the last week, a decrease of 42,000 from the previous week and the lowest total since early November. With a decline in confirmed coronavirus cases, the passage of Biden's Covid-19 Relief Bill and a job market that has been slowly strengthening, economists are hopeful that this is a sign of an improving economy. Continued jobless c

What Happened: On Friday, the Commerce Department issued a report showing that, after several months of retrenchment, US consumer spending bounced back in January and was up 2.4%. In addition, personal incomes were also up 10% in January, in part due to the stimulus checks many Americans received from the government. The January increase comes after two straight months of spending drops which were fueling concerns of a "double-dip" recession. Economists are hopeful that this

What Happened: According to a report released by the Labor Department on Thursday, 730,000 more Americans claimed first-time jobless benefits over the last week, a massive 111,000 decrease from the previous week and well below the expectations of around 845,000 new claims. Although this is a move in the right direction, economists warn that the numbers may be skewed by the extreme weather experienced in much of the country last week and the holidays. Continued jobless claims

What Happened: According to a report released by the Labor Department on Thursday, 793,000 more Americans claimed first-time jobless benefits over the last week, about a 20,000 decrease from the week before but still higher than analyst expectations of around 760,000. Continued jobless claims fell to 4.54 million, down around 150,000 from the previous week. However, economists warn that the numbers might be going down for the wrong reason. States will typically provide jobles