New unemployment claims climbed by 11,000 over the week before bringing the number of new claims to 235,000. File Photo by Jim Ruymen/UPI | License Photo
Aug. 21 (UPI) -- New unemployment claims climbed by 11,000 for the week ending Aug. 16 over the week before bringing the number of new claims to 235,000, according to the U.S. Department of Labor.
The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 1.3% for the week ending Aug. 9, unchanged from the previous week's unrevised rate, a press release said. The advance number for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment during the week ending Aug. 9 was 1.97 million, an increase of 30,000 from the previous week's revised level. It's the highest level for insured unemployment since Nov. 6, 2021, when it was 2.04 million.
The United States only added 72,000 jobs in July, well below the forecast amount of 115,000. Revisions to the May and June figures cut 258,000 jobs off estimates, and the unemployment rate rose to 4.2% from 4.1%.
As a result, President Donald Trump fired Bureau of Labor Statistics Commissioner Erika McEntarfer, claiming she manipulated the BLS numbers to make him look bad. The BLS does not contribute to the weekly unemployment benefits report except to calculate the annual seasonal adjustments.
