Worker filings for unemployment benefits rose last week but were still historically low, showing that the broader labor market remains robust despite large companies announcing layoffs.
Initial jobless claims, a proxy for layoffs, increased by 7,000 to a seasonally adjusted 198,000 last week, the Labor Department said Thursday.
The level of claims fluctuated earlier this month, but broadly remains low. The four-week average of weekly claims, which smooths out volatility in the weekly numbers, ticked up by 2,000 to 198,250. Weekly claims have remained near the 2019 prepandemic average of about 220,000 for several months.
The trend has held even as large employers in industries such as technology, finance and entertainment cut jobs. Walt Disney Co. said it would start notifying workers this week that they are being laid off, as part of the company’s previously announced plan to cut 7,000 jobs. Amazon.com Inc. and internet job-search platform Indeed have also recently moved to cut jobs.
But even with the announcements there hasn’t been an uptick in filings for unemployment benefits. Hiring has been strong this year, especially at restaurants and retailers, and the unemployment rate is trending near a half-century low.
Some laid-off workers may be forgoing applying for jobless assistance because they are quickly finding new work or are receiving generous severance packages.
Economic growth in the final three months of last year was revised down to an 2.6% seasonally and inflation-adjusted annual rate, from the previously estimated 2.7% gain, the Commerce Department said in a separate report Thursday. The revision largely reflected lower estimates of exports and consumer spending. That was partly offset by upward revisions to nonresidential and residential fixed investment and state and local government spending.
Entering the year, many economists forecast the economy would slip into recession this year, but more recent projections indicate that they think a downturn didn’t start in the first quarter of 2023.
S&P Global Market Intelligence economists estimated on Wednesday that the U.S. economy expanded at an 1% annual rate during the first three months of the year. The Commerce Department will release its initial first-quarter reading on April 27.
Write to Sarah Chaney Cambon at sarah.chaney@wsj.com and Austen Hufford at austen.hufford@wsj.com
Copyright ©2022 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 87990cbe856818d5eddac44c7b1cdeb8
Worker filings for unemployment benefits rose last week but were still historically low, showing that the broader labor market remains robust despite large companies announcing layoffs.
Initial jobless claims, a proxy for layoffs, increased by 7,000 to a seasonally adjusted 198,000 last week, the Labor Department said Thursday.
The level of claims fluctuated earlier this month, but broadly remains low. The four-week average of weekly claims, which smooths out volatility in the weekly numbers, ticked up by 2,000 to 198,250. Weekly claims have remained near the 2019 prepandemic average of about 220,000 for several months.
The trend has held even as large employers in industries such as technology, finance and entertainment cut jobs. Walt Disney Co. said it would start notifying workers this week that they are being laid off, as part of the company’s previously announced plan to cut 7,000 jobs. Amazon.com Inc. and internet job-search platform Indeed have also recently moved to cut jobs.
But even with the announcements there hasn’t been an uptick in filings for unemployment benefits. Hiring has been strong this year, especially at restaurants and retailers, and the unemployment rate is trending near a half-century low.
Some laid-off workers may be forgoing applying for jobless assistance because they are quickly finding new work or are receiving generous severance packages.
Economic growth in the final three months of last year was revised down to an 2.6% seasonally and inflation-adjusted annual rate, from the previously estimated 2.7% gain, the Commerce Department said in a separate report Thursday. The revision largely reflected lower estimates of exports and consumer spending. That was partly offset by upward revisions to nonresidential and residential fixed investment and state and local government spending.
Entering the year, many economists forecast the economy would slip into recession this year, but more recent projections indicate that they think a downturn didn’t start in the first quarter of 2023.
S&P Global Market Intelligence economists estimated on Wednesday that the U.S. economy expanded at an 1% annual rate during the first three months of the year. The Commerce Department will release its initial first-quarter reading on April 27.
Write to Sarah Chaney Cambon at sarah.chaney@wsj.com and Austen Hufford at austen.hufford@wsj.com
Copyright ©2022 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 87990cbe856818d5eddac44c7b1cdeb8