New unemployment claims jump to highest level in months as Trump economy teeters

Federal data released Thursday shows that the number of Americans filing for unemployment benefits surged last week, another indication of growing instability in President Donald Trump’s economy as corporations lay off workers en masse and prices continue to rise.

For the week ending December 6, new unemployment claims jumped to 236,000—an increase of 44,000 from the previous week, according to figures from the US Labor Department.

Andrew Stettner, an unemployment insurance expert at The Century Foundation (TCF) noted that new unemployment claims are now at their highest level since early September.

“These totals don’t include an additional 12,732 former federal workers who are also now relying on unemployment benefits, as the number of federal workers on UI has stayed at levels not seen since the pandemic, even after the government shutdown has ended,” Stettner said.

“This disappointing news comes on the heels of other troubling labor market data,” he continued, pointing to private-sector payroll figures showing the US economy lost 32,000 jobs in November. “With hiring still so weak, it is no surprise that the percentage of workers feeling confident enough to quit their job dropped to its lowest level since the beginning of the pandemic in April 2020. In fact, our polling shows that 27% of Americans said they took on a ‘second job, side hustle, or gig work’ in the past year to help make ends meet.”

The updated unemployment numbers come as Trump is on an economic messaging tour during which he has dismissed the notion that his policies have worsened the country’s affordability crisis, calling such claims a Democratic “hoax” even as polling shows Americans—including a significant percentage of his own voters—increasingly blame the president for rising costs for groceries and other necessities.

“We inherited the highest prices ever, and we’re bringing them down,” Trump said, falsely, during a stop in Pennsylvania earlier this week.

“We’re crushing it, and you’re getting much higher wages,” the president added, another falsehood.

Survey data released Thursday by The Century Foundation shows that Americans are increasingly skipping meals and doctor visits as prices rise.

“Roughly three in 10 voters delayed or skipped medical care in the past year due to cost, while nearly two-thirds switched to cheaper groceries or bought less food altogether,” the group noted in a summary of its findings. “About half tapped into their savings to cover everyday expenses.”

Julie Margetta Morgan, president of The Century Foundation, said in a statement that “while President Trump calls affordability a ‘hoax,’ countless families are being forced into impossible tradeoffs every day as a result of Trump’s disastrous policies that are jacking up prices.”

“Working-class Americans are living in a different, harsher economy under Trump,” Morgan added, “and they feel the impacts of financialization—and the added risks and costs that come with it—most severely.”