Nov. 7 (UPI) — The number of people filing for unemployment benefits for the first time last week increased modestly by 3,000 from the previous week, which saw its lowest weekly total in months, the Labor Department said Thursday.
The seasonally adjusted total of initial filers, 221,000 for the week ending Nov. 2 increased from the previous revised total of 218,000.
The previous week’s total was increased by 2,000 from 216,000.
Those filing for unemployment insurance, including first-time applications, is a number watched by the Federal Reserve as a snapshot of the country’s workforce stability.
The four-week moving average for initial unemployment benefits filings including last week was 227,250, a drop of 9,750 from the previous week’s average.
The total number of those filing for weekly unemployment insurance across the country for the week ending Oct. 26 was 1.9 million, an increase of 39,000 from the week before. This is the highest number of people filing for weekly benefits since the week ending Nov. 13, 2021, when nearly 2 million filed for jobless benefits.
The four-week moving average of total unemployment benefit applications for the week ending Oct. 26 reached 1,875,500, an increase of 8,500 from the previous week’s average, the highest four-week average since the week ending Nov. 26, 2021, when 1.9 million filed for the benefits.