The number of unemployment aid applications in the United States fell surprisingly as of the end of October. The US labour market has thus shown great resilience to the worsened economic situation, with the economy being crushed by the highest inflation in 40 years.
Drop in unemployment aid applications
In the week ending October 29, the US authorities registered 217 thousand new applications for unemployment benefits. That’s 1,000 less than a week earlier. Referring to the US Labor Department, Reuters reported. The number of applications is also lower than the economists estimated approached by the agency. They counted on 220,000 requests.
Surge in staff layoffs
But at the same time, the number of laid-off employees also increased. These are mainly sectors that are sensitive to interest rate rises. Thus, the higher redundancy rates are mainly related to financial services, the technology sector or housing and real estate.
The Federal Reserve on Wednesday announced another interest rate hike, up 0.75 percentage points. This is the fourth such sharp increase in a row. Thus, the Fed’s base interest rate is currently at an interval of 3.75 to 4 percent.
