What's moodier than your teenage daughter? 🎭 The recent US jobless claim numbers! These babies are moving up and down like two caffeinated kids on a seesaw. ☕🤸 We've got the details on the latest stats, and we also threw in some news about layoffs and the housing market. Just as a little treat, because you deserve it. 🍧
Here’s Five Fast Facts on the recent jobless claims numbers :
- 📉 Fallin' 4 U - According to the Labor Department, jobless claims in the U.S. for the week ending March 18 fell by 1,000 to 191,000 from the previous week. This fall was unexpected, but…
- 📈 All The Way Up - ...then unemployment numbers unexpectedly rose back up, hitting the highest level in three weeks. Initial numbers for the week ending March 25 went up to 198,000 from the 191,000 recorded just a week prior.
- 🔮 Crystal Ball - The Fed predicts the unemployment rate will rise from 3.6% to 4.5% by the end of the year. This may seem high, but it's not that uncommon during a recession. Are we in a recession!?
- 🖨️ Horrible Bosses - Layoffs are increasing in the tech world, with companies like Microsoft, IBM, and Salesforce all announcing cuts over the last few months. Amazon also reported plans to cut an additional 9,000 positions in addition to the 18,000 employees they planned to lay off in January. Meta, AKA Facebook's mom, announced an additional 10,000 layoffs. Zuck and the gang cut 11,000 last November.
- 🏡 Home Sweet Home - On a related roller coaster, pending home sales rose for the third straight month in a row, increasing by just under 1%. Sales were down 19.0% year over year in February. The median new house price last month was $438,200. That's 2.5% more than last year.
🔥Bottom line: It's no surprise that jobless claims numbers are all over the place. Our economy has been prrrrrretty uncertain lately. Throw in a couple of recent bank failures and everyone's feeling a bit panicked. Regardless of what the stats say and how many people are getting Zucked over at Meta, there are still a ton of great jobs to snatch up. Polish up your resume with these tips!
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