The number of people repeatedly filing for unemployment benefits in the United States has risen to a new high in three and a half years

The number of people repeatedly filing for unemployment benefits in the United States has risen to its highest level since the end of 2021, further indicating that unemployed Americans will take longer to find new jobs.

The number of continuing jobless claims rose to 1,956,000 in the week ending May 31, up from 1,902 million surveyed by Bloomberg, data released by the U.S. Department of Labor on Thursday (June 12).

Meanwhile, the number of seasonally adjusted initial jobless claims reached 248,000, higher than expected, climbing to its highest level since August 2023.

The sharp increase in the number of people continuously applying for unemployment benefits and the slowdown in recruitment activities occur simultaneously, indicating that the unemployed have difficulty finding jobs. However, the statistics of the latest data cover Memorial Day and school vacations in some states, which often makes the data more volatile.

The US Federal Reserve will hold a meeting next week. The market is highly likely to expect that the agency will keep interest rates unchanged to continue observing how President Trump's tariff policy will affect the economic and inflation trends. Job growth slowed but remained healthy in May, while consumer price data released this week indicated that the impact of tariffs has been limited so far.

Another May data released on Thursday showed that producer price inflation in the United States remained moderate across the board, which also indicated that the significant increase in tariffs has not yet led to a rise in consumer prices and business costs. After the data was released, both the yield of US Treasury bonds and the exchange rate of the US dollar declined.