United States | Unemployment claims continue to decline

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France Media Agency

Between May 2 and 8, 473,000 new jobless claims were recorded, better than the 510,000 expected by analysts.

This is 34,000 fewer people than the previous week, for which the data has been revised up. Thus, registrations only returned this week below the 500,000 mark, and not the previous week as had been announced.

All programs combined, by contrast, the total number of recipients of assistance for job loss or income was on the rise, with a total of 16.9 million people between April 18 and April 24, according to the data. also published Thursday.

This figure is published less than a week after a nasty surprise on the employment front: the economic recovery now launched in the United States gave hope that a million jobs were created in April, but only 266 000 have actually seen the light of day.

And the unemployment rate even picked up slightly for the first time in a year (6.1%).

For the Republicans, it is the aid paid to the unemployed in the face of the pandemic, considered too generous, which hinders the improvement of the job market. They claim that this encourages the unemployed to stay at home rather than looking for a job.

Several governors of conservative states have thus already planned a reduction, sometimes even an abolition, of this additional aid, to pay, once again, only the usual allowances.

President Joe Biden had reaffirmed the need to maintain this aid, while warning those who would benefit from the generosity of the public authorities.

“The law is clear: if you receive unemployment benefit and you are offered a suitable job, you cannot refuse this job and simply continue to receive unemployment”, he assured, conceding “some exceptions linked to COVID-19 ”.

And he is counting, to create millions of jobs, on the two investment plans he wants to pass in Congress, for a total amount of nearly $ 4 trillion over 10 years. However, he will have to conduct tough negotiations to get these plans approved.

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