Jobless claims at highest levels since October

The number of Americans filing for unemployment benefits increased to its highest levels since mid-October as a surge in omicron cases threatens the country’s economic recovery.

In the week of January 15, unemployment filings increased to 286,000 from 231,000 a week earlier, according to data released by the Labor Department on Thursday.

Continuing claims, Americans who consecutively receive unemployment benefits, also increased to 1.635 million, an increase of 84,000 over the previous week's total.

This is the third week in a row that there has been an increase in jobless claims, according to the Labor Department.

The surge in omicron cases is thought to have been one of the most influential factors in the rise of joblessness. The daily average for new infections in the U.S. is around 752,698 a day.

"The Omicron variant of COVID-19 is hurting the U.S. labor market, but the good news is that this will be temporary," said Ryan Sweet, a senior economist at Moody's Analytics.

Despite the rise in claims in 2022, the numbers pale compared to the figures of a year ago, when 16.94 million Americans received benefits. Unemployment claims are now reaching pre-pandemic levels as the economy tries to recover.

At the end of November, there were 10.6 million job vacancies, according to the Labor Department. Since then, there are 3.7 million more job openings than unemployed individuals.