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The jobless rate rose to 3.9%, up from 3.7% in January, even as employers added 275,000 jobs, the Labor Department said. Its monthly report is being closely watched for clues into how the world's largest economy is absorbing the jump in borrowing costs since 2022. The latest numbers sent mixed signals. Overall, analysts said there was little in the report to fuel major worries or raise fears that the economy would be harmed by higher interest rates. "Overall things still looking good," said Harvard professor Josh Furman, a former economic advisor to Barack Obama, on social media, while adding that...

Officials are working to determine how long Robert Card had been deceased The Maine Army Reservist who slaughtered 18 of his neighbors and wounded 13 others in a mass shooting Wednesday night has been found dead Friday — more than 48 hours after he inflicted carnage in Lewiston and sparked a massive manhunt in the peaceful New England state. Robert Card II is believed to have died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound, authorities announced at a press conference Friday night. Officials did not provide many details on the circumstances that led to the discovery of his body in the nearby...

Boston police confirmed to Boston 25 News officers took a suspect into custody for allegedly breaking the arms off a statue of Jesus Christ on a crucifix outside the Cathedral of the Holy Cross Tuesday night. A bystander had a camera handy to record the vandalism. Video shows a figure dressed in green climbing the statue and attempting to pry the body off the cross by swinging from the hanging torso. The Archdiocese and Cathedral are now reportedly looking to replace the statue. The Cathedral of the Holy Cross did not immediately respond to a request or comment from The...

The U.S. added 187,000 jobs, and the unemployment rate rose to 3.8 percent in August, according to data released Friday by the Labor Department. The jobs report showed the labor market plateaued in August as the Federal Reserve considers another interest rate hike. Economists expected the U.S. to have gained 170,000 jobs and maintain the July jobless rate of 3.5 percent, according to consensus estimates. While the jobless rate rose 0.3 percentage points in August, the labor force participation rate rose 0.2 percentage points after being largely flat since March. The Fed has hiked interest rates to their highest level...

The number of Americans claiming unemployment benefits climbed slightly last week amid broader strength in the U.S. labor market. Claims rose to 227,000 for the week ending July 29, up 6,000 from the previous week, ahead of more comprehensive jobs data to be released Friday by the Labor Department. Despite the uptick, U.S. employers cut just 23,697 jobs in July, the lowest number in 11 months, according to employment research firm Challenger, Gray and Christmas. “Companies, weary of letting go of needed workers, are finding other ways to cut costs. Many have slowed hiring, but wages continue to rise, particularly...

The number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment benefits jumped to a 1-1/2-year high last week, pointing to widening cracks in the labor market, which together with subsiding inflation could allow the Federal Reserve to halt further interest rate increases next month. Cooling price pressures were underscored by other data from the Labor Department on Thursday showing producer prices rebounding modestly in April, leading to the smallest annual increase in producer inflation in more than two years. The reports suggested that demand was slowing and raised the risks of a recession later this year. “The Fed looks closer to...

The number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment benefits increased more than expected last week, further evidence that labor market conditions were easing as higher borrowing costs dampen demand in the economy. The slowing momentum in the economy was underscored by other data from the Labor Department on Thursday showing producer prices unexpectedly falling in March, with underlying producer inflation subsiding. Still, the labor market and inflation are not cooling fast enough to stop the Federal Reserve from raising interest rates one more time next month. “Fed officials couldn’t ask for better data today as the economy looks like...

Federal Reserve officials expect the unemployment rate to reach 4.5 percent by the end of 2023 as interest rate hikes slow the economy, according to projections released Wednesday. That’s an uptick from the current 3.6 percent unemployment rate, indicating that Fed officials predict that millions of Americans could lose their jobs this year as the U.S. economy grapples with higher interest rates and the aftereffects of a banking crisis. However, the jobless figure is lower than the Fed’s 4.6 percent estimate released in December. The Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) released its projections after the panel agreed to increase interest...

The local unemployment rate has hit its highest level in nearly a year. The State Labor Department says the preliminary jobless rate for the Rochester metro stood at an even 4 percent in January. That's more than a full percentage point higher than the previous month. It's also the highest since last February,

New first-time applications for jobless benefits fell last week, even as major technology and media companies announced thousands of layoffs, according to data released Thursday by the Labor Department. In the week ending Jan. 21, initial claims for unemployment insurance totaled 186,000 after seasonal adjustments, down 6,000 from the previous week’s total of 190,000. Roughly 197,500 Americans filed to begin new cycles of jobless benefits each week over the past month, still well below pre-pandemic averages. New weekly jobless claims are not necessarily a perfect reflection of layoffs, as some Americans who have lost their jobs may not have applied...

The number of Americans submitting new claims for jobless benefits increased more than expected last week, jumping 29,000 to a seasonally adjusted 219,000 for the week ended October 1, the Department of Labor said Thursday. The rise in fresh unemployment filings was the highest in four months. Economists polled by the Reuters news agency had forecast 203,000 applications for the latest week, coming as officials at the U.S. central bank continue efforts to tame the worst inflation in four decades.

According to a recent NBC poll, only 33 percent of Americans think President Biden is doing a good job managing the economy. What do they know? Biden has backed reckless government spending that led to a supply and demand imbalance, undermined our domestic oil and gas production, which helped drive energy costs higher, and encouraged federal handouts that kept workers on the sidelines. Overall, the president can take a good bit of credit for the runaway inflation that is hurting all Americans. Now he can take credit for solving one cause of that inflation: the shortage of workers and consequent...

The percentage of white-collar workers in New York City office buildings remains abysmal. Workers aren't returning, and it's crushing the local economy.NYC's 7.6% unemployment rate is shockingly high compared with the rest of the country (nationwide average of 3.8%) as an economic recovery is slow to materialize, according to Bloomberg. There could be a muted recovery without five-day-a-week commuters because their impact on the local economy is substantial. Keycard swipes tracked by security company Kastle Systems show NYC offices are about 36% occupied, far below pre-COVID levels. Even as companies announced return-to-office dates, many implemented a hybrid work model that...

The U.S. is poised to enter Year Three of the pandemic with both a booming economy and a still-mutating virus. But for Washington and Wall Street, one Covid aftershock is starting to eclipse almost everything else. Already-hot inflation is forecast to climb even further when November data comes out on Friday, to 6.8%. That would be the highest rate since Jimmy Carter was president in the early 1980s — and in the lifetimes of most Americans. And the CPI change since last year, according to the Federal Reserve of St Louis FRED is a staggering 16.262%. And with U.S. Jobless...

New claims for unemployment insurance fell to a new post-lockdown low during the final week of October, according to data released Thursday by the Labor Department. In the week ending Oct. 30, initial claims for unemployment insurance totaled 269,000, a decline of 14,000 from the previous week’s revised level of 283,000. New weekly claims have reached the lowest total since March 14, 2020, when roughly 225,000 Americans filed first-time jobless aid applications shortly before the U.S. locked down to contain the spread of COVID-19.

Mr. Sulu, people WANT TO WORK.Your party destroys millions of jobs and then pays people NOT to work.That’s not compassionate; it’s stupid, and deeply harmful. pic.twitter.com/5UAC8GkTBy— Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) September 8, 2021 .@BetteMidler is unhappy with me.🤷🏻‍♂️ https://t.co/hVwPUznzSG— Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) September 8, 2021#Ted "Get a Job" #Cruz has a great job; he sits on his fat ass all day, collects $175,000 a year for doing ZIP but opposing #progress, with staff, office, police escorts, donors & bootlickers galore, and a pension vested after 5 years of "service". He deserves to lose that job.— bettemidler (@BetteMidler) September 7, 2021Dems really...

While the unemployment rate for Americans dropped in August, there is a political time bomb buried in the statistics for President Joe Biden and a Democratic Party increasingly focused on equity: black joblessness shot up significantly. In other words, the president who fondly boasts of a domestic policy promising to leave nobody behind has an economic recovery that is leaving a key Democratic constituency in worse shape. "The rise in black unemployment in August is certainly troubling, considering their unemployment rates were already much higher than any other group," Elise Gould, a senior economist at the Economic Policy Institute, said...

More than 2.9 million Americans are still on traditional state unemployment benefits as the number of people seeking weekly new claims appear to have settled at a level higher than previously hoped, the feds said Thursday. Continuing claims fell by 366,000 from just over 3.26 million the week before, according to data released Thursday by the Labor Department. That figure stood at almost 16 million at the same time last year, in the thick of the pandemic. Continuing claims have fallen significantly since peaks seen in 2020, but the figure remains about twice as high as pre-pandemic levels.

New weekly applications for jobless benefits rose unexpectedly last week, according to data released Thursday by the Labor Department. In the week ending July 3, the seasonally adjusted number of initial claims for unemployment insurance totaled 373,000, rising 2,000 above the previous week’s revised total of 371,000. Another 99,001 people applied for Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA), a program created in March 2020 to expand jobless aid to gig workers, contractors and others who don’t qualify for traditional unemployment benefits. Twenty-six states have pulled out of the program, which expires in September.

New claims for unemployment benefits fell sharply last week, the Department of Labor said Thursday. Initial jobless claims declined to 364,000 for the week ended June 26, a decline of 51,000 from the previous week. Economists polled by Econoday had estimated 395,000 new claims. This is the lowest level of claims since March 14, 2020, just before pandemic lockdowns forced millions of Americans out of work. The 4-week moving average of claims, which smoothes out week-to-week volatility, was 392,750, a decrease of 6,000 from the previous week’s revised average. This is the lowest level for this average since March 14,...