Although many businesses have the "help wanted" sign up, unemployment is rising across the nation.
The number of people applying for unemployment benefits in the U.S. went up for the week ending April 15.
According to data from the Labor Department, the number of new applications rose to 245,000. That's a jump of about 5,000 from the previous week.
Meanwhile, the four-week moving barely changed, with a decrease of 500 from the previous week.
Data from the department shows the insured unemployment rate, which is the number of people currently receiving unemployment benefits, was 1,865,000 during the week ending April 8 -- an increase of 61,000 from the previous week.
"This is the highest level for insured unemployment since November 27, 2021 when it was 1,964,000," the department said.
The four-week moving average for insured unemployment also increased to 1,827,250 -- the highest level for this average since December 18, 2021 when it was 1,838,000, according to the Labor Department.
The largest increases in initial claims for the week ending April 8 were in California (+10,640), New Jersey (+3,378), Texas (+2,981), Pennsylvania (+2,921), and Connecticut (+1,619).
Not every state supplied comments for why more of their residents were applying for unemployment. However, California said its layoffs came in the service industry. Likewise, Texas said layoffs were reported in professional, scientific and technical services, as well as construction industries. In Pennsylvania, layoffs were across the board in transportation and warehousing, accommodation and food services, administrative and support services, waste management and remediation services, and manufacturing industries.
Meantime, the largest decreases in initial claims were in Ohio (-3,138), Indiana (-926), Missouri (-552), Michigan (-516), and Georgia (-468).
Ohio was the only state to offer an explanation for its decrease, saying fewer layoffs were reported in the manufacturing and automobile industries.
Related
The highest insured unemployment rates for the week ending April 1 were in California, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Rhode Island, Alaska, Illinois, New York, Oregon, and Puerto Rico.
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