Initial requests for unemployment benefits in the United States reached a total of 210,000 applications last week, which represents a slight drop of 2,000 compared to previous data, according to data published this Thursday by the Department of Labor.
In the week ending March 9, recipients of this benefit totaled 1.807 million, equivalent to an increase in the number of beneficiaries of 4,000 people, compared to 1.803 million the previous week. In the same comparable period of 2023, citizens with benefits reached 1.68 billion.
The main increases occurred in the States of Oregon (2,216), California (462), Indiana (427), Texas (392) and Nevada (342), while the most pronounced decreases were noted in New York (-14,583), Ohio (-1,453), New Hampshire (-446), Massachusetts (-305) and Vermont (-289).
UNEMPLOYMENT RATE
The unemployment rate in the US rose two tenths in February to 3.9%, while 275,000 non-agricultural jobs were created, a figure higher than the 229,000 new positions created in the first month of 2024.
The number of unemployed reached 6,458 million in February, compared to 6,124 million in January, including 1,203 million long-term unemployed (those without work for 27 weeks or more), which represented 18.6% of the total unemployed.
For its part, the number of people employed part-time for economic reasons fell by 46,000, to 4.376 million. Likewise, the labor force participation rate stood at 62.5%, unchanged.
