New Hampshire’s jobless claims continue decline
(The Center Square) – New weekly unemployment claims in New Hampshire pulled back further last week, as the state’s pandemic-battered labor market continues to recover.
At least 3,033 unemployment claims were filed for the week that ended Feb. 6, a decline of 271 claims over the previous week, according to the U.S. Department of Labor’s weekly jobless claims report.
The decline in state unemployment claims was offset slightly by 283 new claims for federally backed Pandemic Unemployment Assistance, an increase of 90 over the previous week, the federal agency said.
Meanwhile, 26,862 continuing claims – which are viewed as a barometer of the unemployment situation – were filed in the week ending Jan. 30, declining by 1,046 over the previous week.
New Hampshire’s unemployment rate for December was 4%, a slight increase from the previous month, according to New Hampshire Employment Security.
The state has distributed about $1.5 billion in jobless benefits to more than 165,000 jobless workers during the pandemic, according to the state employment agency.
Nationally, about 779,000 new jobless claims were filed last week, a drop of about 33,000 claims from the previous week, according to the Labor Department.
Continuing claims dropped by 193,000 to about 4.5 million nationally for the week that ended Jan. 23, the labor department said.
Despite the improving labor market, more than 20.4 million Americans are still receiving state or federal unemployment benefits in the week ending Jan. 23.
The U.S. unemployment rate is currently 6.3%, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, down from a peak of 14.8% in March 2020.
Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said this week that about 4 million people who are out of work have stopped looking for employment, meaning they aren’t counted as jobless. If they were, the national unemployment rate would be closer to 10%.
“We are still very far from a strong labor market whose benefits are broadly shared,” Powell said in a virtual speech on Wednesday. “The pandemic has led to the largest 12-month decline in labor force participation since at least 1948.”
Disclaimer: This content is distributed by The Center Square
