?States reported that 222,000 workers filed for new unemployment benefits during the week ending Sept. 3, marking four straight weeks of declines. The number of workers continuing to claim unemployment benefits—1.4 million—has been steadily rising this year but is still well below the pre-pandemic average of 1.7 million. The generally low level of jobless claims overall signifies strong labor demand as companies try to attract and retain employees.
Unemployment claims had been trending up this year, but prior to that, had been running around their lowest levels since the late 1960s. The majority of layoff announcements have come from technology companies that scaled up their workforces during the pandemic and have since realized that they overhired.
The unemployment rate in August rose to 3.7 percent from a 50-year low in July, but the increase included a surge in the number of people actively looking for work, a sign of a healthy labor market.