Unemployment claims elevated by 23,000 to 248,000 for the week ending on February 12, the Labor Division mentioned Thursday.
General, lower than 1.6 million Individuals had been accumulating unemployment advantages within the week that ended on February 5, a drop of about 26,000 from the week earlier than, the Related Press reported.
The soar in claims got here after three straight weeks of declines, which President Joe Biden touted final week as "an indication of the actual progress we have made" in getting Individuals again to work.
Despite the fact that claims elevated, the four-week common for claims dropped by 10,500 to 243,250 within the week ending on February 12, based on the Labor Division report.
The drop marked the second straight week of declines after the quantity elevated for 5 straight weeks, an increase that coincided with the speedy unfold of the Omicron coronavirus variant, AP reported.
The rise in first-time unemployment claims got here after the Labor Division issued a optimistic hiring report for the month of January. Employers added 467,000 new jobs through the month, following the mixed job features of 709,000, revised upward from an earlier estimate, in November and December final 12 months, AP reported.
In the meantime, the unemployment fee noticed a slight enhance from 3.9 p.c to 4 p.c in January.
The sooner unfold of the Omicron variant didn't deter employers seeking to rent new employees amid the push for financial restoration after the preliminary recession attributable to the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. The distribution of vaccines and authorities spending in 2021 aided the restoration, and a document 6.4 million jobs had been added final 12 months, AP reported.
After the Labor Division reported final week that jobless claims had fallen for the third straight week, the identical day the division introduced that the U.S. was seeing its highest inflation fee enhance in 4 a long time, Biden heralded job progress within the U.S.
"My two high financial priorities have been to create a rising financial system with extra good-paying jobs, and to decrease the costs Individuals have confronted from the worldwide downside of inflation associated to the pandemic," Biden mentioned in a press release.
"We have now seen historic success on the primary precedence, with the best 12 months of job progress in historical past, Individuals discovering higher jobs, higher wages, and higher advantages, together with the quickest financial progress in a long time."
Biden has not commented on Thursday's unemployment declare numbers.
Newsweek reached out to the White Home for remark however didn't hear again in time for publication.
Replace 2/17/22, 11:55 a.m. ET: This story has been up to date with further data and background.
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