Current:Home > StocksUS applications for jobless claims hold at healthy levels-LoTradeCoin
US applications for jobless claims hold at healthy levels
View Date:2024-12-23 21:11:36
U.S. applications for jobless benefits were unchanged last week, settling at a healthy level as the labor market continues to show strength in the face of elevated interest rates.
Unemployment claims for the week ending March 2 were 217,000, matching the previous week’s revised level, the Labor Department reported Thursday.
The four-week average of claims, a less volatile measure, fell by 750 from the previous week to 212,250.
Weekly unemployment claims are broadly viewed as representative of the number of U.S. layoffs in a given week. They have remained at historically low levels since the pandemic purge of millions of jobs in the spring of 2020.
In total, 1.9 million Americans were collecting jobless benefits during the week that ended Feb. 24, an increase of 8,000 from the previous week and the most since November.
The Federal Reserve raised its benchmark borrowing rate 11 times beginning in March of 2022 in an effort to bring down the four-decade high inflation that took hold after the economy roared back from the COVID-19 recession of 2020. Part of the Fed’s goal was to loosen the labor market and cool wage growth, which it believes contributed to persistently high inflation.
Many economists thought the rapid rate hikes could potentially tip the country into recession, but that hasn’t happened. Jobs have remained plentiful and the economy has held up better than expected thanks to strong consumer spending.
U.S. employers delivered a stunning burst of hiring to begin 2024, adding 353,000 jobs in January in the latest sign of the economy’s continuing ability to shrug off the highest interest rates in two decades.
The unemployment rate is 3.7%, and has been below 4% for 24 straight months, the longest such streak since the 1960s.
The Labor Department issues its February jobs report on Friday.
Though layoffs remain at low levels, there has been an uptick in job cuts recently, mostly across technology and media. Google parent company Alphabet, eBay, TikTok, Snap, and Cisco Systems and the Los Angeles Times have all recently announced layoffs.
Outside of tech and media, UPS, Macy’s and Levi’s also recently cut jobs.
veryGood! (882)
Related
- Deebo Samuel explains 'out of character' sideline altercation with 49ers long snapper, kicker
- Questions and grief linger at the apartment door where a deputy killed a US airman
- Cleveland Guardians latest MLB team to show off new City Connect uniforms
- Removal of remainder of Civil War governor’s monument in North Carolina starting
- John Krasinski Revealed as People's Sexiest Man Alive 2024
- Psst! Everything at J. Crew Factory Is up to 60% off Right Now, Including Cute Summer Staples & More
- Volunteer fire department sees $220,000 raised for ambulances disappear in cyber crime
- California moves closer to requiring new pollutant-warning labels for gas stoves
- Beyoncé course coming to Yale University to examine her legacy
- Howard University cancels nurses' graduation mid-ceremony after door is smashed
Ranking
- The Bachelorette's Desiree Hartsock Gives Birth, Welcomes Baby No. 3 With Chris Siegfried
- Harris utters a profanity in advice to young Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders
- No criminal charges in rare liquor probe at Oregon alcohol agency, state report says
- Duke University graduates walk out ahead of Jerry Seinfeld's commencement address
- John Robinson, successful football coach at USC and with the LA Rams, has died at 89
- Pro-union ad featuring former Alabama coach Nick Saban was done without permission, he says
- Gov. Kristi Noem banished by 2 more South Dakota tribes, now banned from nearly 20% of her state
- Russia presses renewed border assault in northeast Ukraine as thousands flee
Recommendation
-
Digital Finance Research Institute Introduce
-
Families suing over 2021 jet fuel leak into Navy drinking water in Hawaii seek $225K to $1.25M
-
Carolina Hurricanes stave off elimination, down New York Rangers in Game 5 of NHL playoffs
-
Nearly 50 homes in Kalamazoo County were destroyed by heavy storms last week
-
'I know how to do math': New Red Lobster CEO says endless shrimp deal is not coming back
-
How is decaf coffee made? Health benefits and concerns, explained
-
Bindi Irwin Shares How Daughter Grace Reminds Her of Late Dad Steve Irwin
-
New Mexico forges rule for treatment and reuse of oil-industry fracking water amid protests