The number of Americans claiming jobless benefits has risen to the highest levels in three months due to the surge in COVID-19 cases, fueled by the highly transmissible Omicron variant.
The Labor Department reported on Thursday that unemployment claims rose for the third straight week, by 55,000 to 286,000. It is the highest level since mid-October. While the four-week average of claims increased by 20,000 to 231,000, the highest registered number since late November, as per NewsMax.
According to reports, though Omicron is least fatal in comparison to other variants, COVID-19 related deaths in the United States are going up. Researchers predict that when the surge of infections subsides in March, around 50,000 to 300,000 additional deaths would have been recorded.
A spike in COVID-19 infections has slowed what had been a promising recovery from last year's brief but deadly coronavirus epidemic.
Jobless claims had been steadily dropping for over a year and, by late last year, had fallen below the pre-pandemic average of around 220,000 per week.
Altogether, 1.6 million people were collecting jobless aid the week that ended Jan. 8, as per Fox.
More People Quitting Jobs
Companies make the most out of their available workforce at a period when replacements are hard to find. Employers posted 10.6 million job openings in November, the fifth-highest monthly total in records going back to 2000. A record 4.5 million workers quit their jobs in November - a sign that they are confident enough to look something better.
Early this President Joe Biden commented that the reason why Americans were quitting jobs is because of better opportunities in the market-- "better jobs, with better pay, with better benefits".
"This isn't about workers walking away and refusing to work. It's about workers able to take a step up to provide for themselves and their families," Biden said about the December 2021 Jobs Report.
Biden's first full year in office, the White House notes, 6.45 million jobs were created according to US News. Gene Sperling, a senior adviser to Biden and national economic adviser to both President Bill Clinton and Barack Obama, said it was "the highest number of jobs created in a single calendar year" since the US began keeping records in the late 1930s.
The US Job Market Is Doing Good Somehow
The US job market has recovered from the brief but intense recession caused by the COVID-19 outbreak last year. It was the period when governments ordered heavy restrictions, lockdowns, shortened business hours, or closure.
In March and April 2020, millions of Americans have lost their jobs so the unemployment rate in the country jumped to 14.7%
The massive spending of the Biden administration and the rollout of vaccines helped significantly to bring the economy back, somehow, on its feet.
In 2021, employers added a record of 6.4 million jobs. However, it was still not enough to compensate for the unprecedented 9.4 million jobs lost in 2020.
In November and December 2021, hiring slowed down as companies had a hard time filling job vacancies.
Nevertheless, the unemployment rate fell last month to a pandemic low of 3.9%.
Related Article : US Sets Alarming Milestone of 1 Million Coronavirus Cases Amid Omicron Surge as Vaccines Race To Protect Younger People
