US jobless claims down by 8,000 as labour market remains tight

According to the weekly release by the US Department of Labor, state unemployment insurance claims decreased by 8,000 to 210,000, seasonally adjusted, in the week ended May 21, 2022. This drop partially compensated the previous week’s increase by 21,000 which had brought jobless claims to their highest level since January. The US has been under a tight labour market with record high job openings and a strong demand for workers. This, combined with high inflation is pushing up wages and putting pressure on employers to retain their staff. The non-seasonally adjusted jobless claims dropped to 183,930 from 198,460 in the previous week.

Seasonally adjusted continued jobless claims rose by 31,000 to 1.35mn in the week ended May 14. The seasonally adjusted unemployment rate rose to 1% from the record low 0.9% for the same period.

More info and visuals on US jobless claims here.

How to interpret US jobless claims data here.

Further data and analysis on the US economy are available on the CEIC US Economy in a Snapshot – Q2 2022 report.