In the United States, fewer people applied for unemployment benefits last week than at any point since 1969.
According to the Labor Department, only 187,000 people applied for jobless benefits. This was a decrease of about 28,000 from the previous week.
Since the onset of the coronavirus epidemic, the job market in the United States has taken a sharp turn.
On social media, the news sparked multiple historical similarities, with some users uploading photographs from the Woodstock music festival.
Many people are looking back to the past because of the current state of the US economy, but it hasn’t been easy for economists and analysts to come up with the correct historical analogies. When the lockdowns began two years ago, the weekly unemployment statistics reached new highs, with claims finally topping six million.
However, the economy has subsequently rebounded back with a strength that has astonished most economists. Thanks to a major government stimulus program. Last year, the economy grew by 5.7 percent, and payrolls have been growing at a robust pace. Increasing by more than 600,000 last month, helping to reduce the unemployment rate to 3.8 percent.
Historic Economic Recovery
According to analysts, Thursday’s report underscored the tight labor market.
President Joe Biden has tried to take credit for the gains, citing Democratic spending plans and breakthroughs against the coronavirus when he was in office.
He hailed Thursday’s news as yet another proof of the country’s “historic economic recovery.” However, surveys suggest that the population is still concerned about the economy, owing to rising prices at a rate not seen in 40 years.
Many in business are tormented by similarities to the 1970s when the United States had so-called stagflation. In which growth stagnated even as price hikes spiraled, fueled in part by oil shocks.
Economic indicators, such as low jobless claims, show that America’s economy is headed for a recession, according to David Rosenberg, CEO of Toronto-based economic research firm Rosenberg Research.
But, he cautioned, that doesn’t guarantee the US economy will face issues similar to those experienced in the 1970s. Inflationary pressures caused by supply shocks from the pandemic and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, he believes, will eventually subside.
He believes productivity increases will boost growth, citing increased expenditures in areas like automation since the pandemic.
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