Claimants for jobless benefits drops in the US

In a sure sign that the US economy is gradually reviving, the Labour department reported that weekly applications for unemployment benefits dropped to a seasonally adjusted 348,000, the lowest in nearly four years.

This was the fourth drop in five weeks in the number of applicants seeking unemployment benefits and also the lowest number of claims since March 2008. The four-week average dropped to 365,250, a 13-per cent fall in the last one year. Analysts note that when the number of applicants for unemployment benefits falls below 375,000 it indicates that the job market is improving.

But the unemployment rate in the US is still quite high at 8.3 per cent, with nearly 13 million people staying jobless. It had peaked to 9.1 per cent in August, before coming down gradually. The jobless rate in the US had ranged between 3.8 per cent and 6.2 per cent before the 2008-09 recession hit the country.

Among the major worker groups, the unemployment rates for adult men (7.7 per cent) and blacks (13.6 per cent) declined in January, according to the US Bureau of Labour Statistics. The unemployment rates for adult women (7.7 per cent), teenagers (23.2 per cent), whites (7.4 per cent), and Hispanics (10.5 per cent) were little changed. The jobless rate for Asians was 6.7 per cent, not seasonally adjusted.

The number of job losers and persons who completed temporary jobs in January fell to 7.3 million. But the number of long-term unemployed (those jobless for 27 weeks or more) was little changed at 5.5 million and accounted for 42.9 per cent of the unemployed.

After accounting for annual adjustments to population controls, the employment-population ratio (58.5 per cent) rose in January, while the civilian labour force participation rate held at 63.7 per cent.

The number of persons employed part time for economic reasons, at 8.2 million, changed little in January. These individuals were working part time because their hours had been cut back or because they were unable to find a full-time job.

In January, 2.8 million persons were marginally attached to the labour force, essentially unchanged from a year earlier. They were not in the labour force, wanted and were available for work, and had looked for a job sometime in the prior 12 months. They were not counted as unemployed because they had not searched for work in the four weeks preceding the survey.