The number of Americans who are unemployed jumped 20,000, showing the increase in unemployed people at 243,000 – the highest level since August 2023 – reports the United States Department of Labor (DOL).
A recent analysis by Bankrate shows 34% of Americans living paycheck to paycheck and over 1.8 million people are out of work in America. New York is in the top three of job losing states.
The D.O.L. announced on X, “Unemployment Insurance Weekly Claims Initial claims were 243,000 for the week ending 7/13 (+20,000). Insured unemployment was 1,867,000 for the week ending 7/6 (+20,000). That’s the highest level of unemployment since November 2021. The unemployment in Suffolk County sits at 3.5%.
Although some of the increase is due to jobs lost or interrupted due to Hurricane Beryl in Texas, the overall increase is due to more layoffs and those looking for a job are taking a longer time to find one.
"Taking a step back from the noise in the data, jobless claims have drifted higher since the start of the year," said Nancy Vanden Houten, lead U.S. economist at Oxford Economics. "We think the rise so far is consistent with a cooling labor market characterized more by a slower pace of hiring rather than by higher layoffs."
Jobless claims rose in 40 of the 53 states and territories. Taking temporary job loss from the hurricane in Texas out of the equation, job loss was concentrated in New York, California, and Pennsylvania.
The labor market has cooled off. Fewer companies are hiring, job openings have fallen sharply, and it’s taking longer for jobless people to find work.
"We learned from the recent Beige Book that businesses are not filling open positions as aggressively as they were in previous months," said Jeffrey Roach, chief economist at LPL Financial. "We should expect more cautionary rhetoric from Fed policymakers about the labor market."
All of this is in the context of food prices up 21% since January 2021, high interest rates, and high energy costs. The basic cost of living is taking a much bigger bite out of the pockets of everyday Americans.
A recent analysis by Bankrate also reports that 1 in 3 working Americans (34%) say they are living paycheck to paycheck. Bankrate says, “This number might be even higher when factoring in all US adults, considering just 6 in 10 Americans (60%) are in the labor force, DOL figures show.”
“In the absence of automated savings, the presence of high inflation and a rising cost of living make it that much harder to get started. If you wait until the end of the month to try to save what is left over, too often there is nothing left over,” said Greg McBride Chief Financial Analyst for Bankrate.to save what is left over, too often there is nothing left over,” said Greg McBride Chief Financial Analyst for Bankrate.