The number of initial applications for unemployment benefits in the United States fell last week to a total of 184,000 applications, a figure that represents a decrease of 43,000 claimants compared to the previous seven days and the lowest since the beginning of September 1969, as reported by the Department of Labor.
The weekly unemployment data thus improves the records of subsidy requests prior to the pandemic, which slightly exceeded 200,000 requests for aid per week, and far behind the 6 million weekly layoffs between the end of March and the beginning of April 2020.
The moving average for the last four weeks stood at 218,750 initial applications for unemployment assistance, which represents a decrease of 21,250 applications compared to the previous week, reaching the lowest level since the beginning of March 2020.
For its part, the number of beneficiaries of unemployment assistance in the country fell in the week that ended on November 27 by 60,000 people, to a total of 1,992 million, which implies an increase of 38,000 beneficiaries.
The US unemployment rate stood at 4.2% last November, four tenths less than the figure registered the previous month.
During the penultimate month of the year, the country’s job recovery continued to rise, with the creation of 210,000 jobs, compared to the 546,000 created in October.
