While employee benefits enable workers to afford health coverage, those who are unemployed can apply for jobless benefits. And as data from the penultimate week of October show, fewer people applied for them.
According to recent statistics released by the Labor Department, job claims diminished by 9,000, finishing the week of October 23 to a seasonally adjusted 363,000. This is lower than what economists anticipated, as MarketWatch reports that financial experts forecasted claims would be around 365,000.
On the surface, this may suggest that more people are finding employment. However, as monthly numbers indicate, the unemployment rate inched northward in the first full month of fall.
The Labor Department said that the unemployment rate rose one-tenth of a percent in October to 7.9 percent. In September, the rate fell below 8 percent for the first time in more than 40 straight months.
"While more work remains to be done, today’s employment report provides further evidence that the U.S. economy is continuing to heal from the wounds inflicted by the worst downturn since the Great Depression," said Alan Krueger, a White House economic adviser.
According to The Washington Post, the numbers suggest that more employers are adding jobs at a more steady pace than in the summer. Because more people are looking for work, it increased the unemployment rate.
Still, wages were largely stagnant. The Labor Department said that the average workweek for employees in October totaled 34.4 hours, while earnings diminished modestly from $23.59 to $23.58. Employee benefits are not factored into this determination.
