Applications for US unemployment benefits jumped last week to the highest level in almost four years, indicating employers are firing more workers. Initial claims rose by 27,000 to 263,000 in the week ended Sept. 6, the highest since October 2021, according to data from the US Department of Labor. That’s significantly higher than the median forecast in a Bloomberg survey of economists, which predicted 235,000 applications.
Thursday’s figures are just the latest in a quickening drumbeat of worsening news for President Donald Trump on the economic front, from jobs to manufacturing and inflation. Last week, a monthly report on employment showed the whole of the US added just 22,000 jobs in August, building on the previous month’s sobering jobs data, which spurred Trump to fire the head of the Bureau of Labor Statistics and install a loyalist. More recent BLS revisions also cut by half job growth numbers during most of the last year of the Biden Administration. —Natasha Solo-Lyons
Bloomberg
