WASHINGTON (Reuters] – Americans filed more claims for unemployment benefits last week. This was a moderate increase, but still consistent with tightening labour market conditions.

The Labor Department reported that initial claims for state unemployment benefits increased 18,000 to 206,000 in the week ending Dec. 11. In comparison, Claims fell to 188,000 the week before.

Reuters polled economists and predicted that there would be 200,000 applications in the week to come. The number of claims has fallen from 6.149million in April 2020, a record.

Applications tend to increase during the holidays season when companies temporarily close. However, an acute shortage has caused a significant decline in seasonally adjusted claims numbers over recent weeks.

Other than the year-end volatility of claims, there is a strengthening labor market. The Federal Reserve acknowledged this on Wednesday when it announced that would end its pandemic-era bond purchases in March and pave the way for three quarter-percentage-point interest rate increases by the end of 2022. Jerome Powell, Fed Chair, stated to reporters that the economy is making rapid progress towards maximum employment.

At the end October, there were 11.0 million open jobs. 11.0 million job openings were recorded at the end of October. The November low for unemployment was 4.2%, which is a drop of 21 months. The labor market crisis is beginning to improve.

According to Indeed Hiring Lab, the percentage of people actively seeking paid work increased by two points in the November survey. It was 29.1% in November, compared with the previous month.

It was a reflection of a rise in unemployed since the beginning of the survey, June. Some people may be discouraged from searching for work by rising COVID-19 and Omicron viruses.

Millions of Americans are still unemployed despite the fact that generous federally funded unemployment benefits were ended early September, and schools reopened to in-person learning. The number of workers is now 2.4 millions lower than pre-pandemic.