U.S. Jobless Claims Ticked Down Last Week
U.S. applications for unemployment benefits edged lower last week, reflecting a persistently tight labor market.
Initial jobless claims, a proxy for layoffs, decreased by 2,000 to a seasonally adjusted 190,000 last week, the Labor Department said Thursday. Weekly claims have remained below the 2019 prepandemic average of about 220,000 since the start of the year.
The four-week moving average of weekly claims, which smooths out volatility, rose slightly to 193,000.
Jobless claims have remained at low levels for several months despite large employers in technology, finance and other industries laying off thousands of workers. General Motors Co. moved this week to cut salaried employees and telehealth startup Cerebral Inc. is trimming its workforce. Facebook parent Meta Platforms Inc., Google parent
Alphabet Inc.
and
Microsoft Corp.
have also moved to trim their workforces this year.
Those cuts may not be showing in jobless claims figures because workers could forgo assistance due to generous severance packages, or they quickly found a new job in a strong labor market.
Employers added more than half a million jobs in January and the unemployment rate was 3.4%, its lowest level since 1969.
“There’s no doubt that the labor market is still extremely strong, but because labor supply has been such an issue, the rise in unemployment claims might be muted compared to past business cycles,” said Boyd Nash-Stacey, principal economist at forecasting firm Prevedere Inc.
Other measures point to a broader economy that is maintaining momentum. Household spending rose a seasonally adjusted 1.8% in January from the prior month, the largest increase in nearly two years, and business activity in the U.S. picked up in February.
Thursday’s report showed continuing claims, a proxy for the total number of ongoing unemployment benefits payments, decreased by 5,000 to 1.655 million in the week ended Feb. 18. Continuing claims are reported with a one-week lag.
The level of continuing claims is somewhat elevated from a low point of about 1.3 million last spring. Modestly elevated continuing claims could be a sign some beneficiaries are taking longer to find new jobs.
Some private-sector data have begun to show early signs of demand for U.S. workers cooling. The number of job postings tracked by jobs sites
ZipRecruiter
and Indeed have recently declined more than the federal measure of job openings.
Write to Bryan Mena at [email protected]
Copyright ©2022 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 87990cbe856818d5eddac44c7b1cdeb8
U.S. applications for unemployment benefits edged lower last week, reflecting a persistently tight labor market.
Initial jobless claims, a proxy for layoffs, decreased by 2,000 to a seasonally adjusted 190,000 last week, the Labor Department said Thursday. Weekly claims have remained below the 2019 prepandemic average of about 220,000 since the start of the year.
The four-week moving average of weekly claims, which smooths out volatility, rose slightly to 193,000.
Jobless claims have remained at low levels for several months despite large employers in technology, finance and other industries laying off thousands of workers. General Motors Co. moved this week to cut salaried employees and telehealth startup Cerebral Inc. is trimming its workforce. Facebook parent Meta Platforms Inc., Google parent
Alphabet Inc.
and
Microsoft Corp.
have also moved to trim their workforces this year.
Those cuts may not be showing in jobless claims figures because workers could forgo assistance due to generous severance packages, or they quickly found a new job in a strong labor market.
Employers added more than half a million jobs in January and the unemployment rate was 3.4%, its lowest level since 1969.
“There’s no doubt that the labor market is still extremely strong, but because labor supply has been such an issue, the rise in unemployment claims might be muted compared to past business cycles,” said Boyd Nash-Stacey, principal economist at forecasting firm Prevedere Inc.
Other measures point to a broader economy that is maintaining momentum. Household spending rose a seasonally adjusted 1.8% in January from the prior month, the largest increase in nearly two years, and business activity in the U.S. picked up in February.
Thursday’s report showed continuing claims, a proxy for the total number of ongoing unemployment benefits payments, decreased by 5,000 to 1.655 million in the week ended Feb. 18. Continuing claims are reported with a one-week lag.
The level of continuing claims is somewhat elevated from a low point of about 1.3 million last spring. Modestly elevated continuing claims could be a sign some beneficiaries are taking longer to find new jobs.
Some private-sector data have begun to show early signs of demand for U.S. workers cooling. The number of job postings tracked by jobs sites
ZipRecruiter
and Indeed have recently declined more than the federal measure of job openings.
Write to Bryan Mena at [email protected]
Copyright ©2022 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 87990cbe856818d5eddac44c7b1cdeb8
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