Initial requests for unemployment benefits in the United States reached a total of 217,000 applications last week, representing an increase of 5,000 people compared to the previous record, according to data published this Thursday at the Department of Labor.
The recipients of this subsidy added a total of 1.818 million in the week ending October 21, representing an increase in the number of beneficiaries of 35,000 people compared to 1.783 million in the previous week. In the same comparable period in 2022, the number of citizens with benefits reached 1,432 million.
The main increases occurred in the States of Oregon (3,797), New York (1,969), Pennsylvania (1,293), Georgia (1,252), and Texas (1,144), while the most pronounced decrease was recorded in Tennessee (-1,092), Michigan (-740), North Carolina (-487), Mississippi (-199), and Arkansas (-174).
The unemployment rate in the US did not experience any change in September and remained at 3.8%, while 336,000 non-agricultural jobs were created, a figure higher than the 227,000 new positions created in the eighth month of the year.
The number of unemployed reached 6.360 million in September compared to 6.355 million in August, including 1.216 million long-term unemployed (those without work for 27 weeks or more), representing 19.1% of the total number of unemployed citizens.
For its part, the number of people working part-time for economic reasons fell by 156,000 to 4.065 million in September. Likewise, the labor force participation rate stood at 62.8%, unchanged.
