Weekly jobless claims began to rise again in early September, increasing more than expected, due in particular to a catch-up in unfulfilled claims at the end of August due to Hurricane Ida, which hit Louisiana.
Between September 5 and 11, 332,000 people registered as unemployed to receive an allowance, according to data released Thursday by the Department of Labor.
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This is 20,000 more than in the previous week, for which the figures were revised upwards, with 312,000 new registrations instead of 310,000.
This increase is stronger than expected by analysts, who expected 318,000 new registrations.
The total number of unemployment benefit recipients was 12.1 million people at the end of August (+178,937), according to the most recent data available, also released on Thursday.
Expiry of exceptional unemployment benefits
The exceptional unemployment benefits that had been paid since the start of the pandemic expired on September 6.
The rights had been extended in duration, and opened to workers who usually are not entitled to them, in particular the self-employed. All beneficiaries also received an additional $ 300 per week.
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Several million people are no longer entitled to unemployment benefits, while employers, to attract too few candidates for the lowest paid positions, are increasing wages.
And if the Delta variant of the Covid weighed on the activity of certain restaurants, hotels or stores, companies did not lay off workers, knowing how difficult it would have been for them to find staff in the face of a labor shortage. work that has been going on for months, especially for the lowest paid jobs.
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