The four-week moving average of new applications, a metric that helps smooth out fluctuations, ticked up to 216,750, only the highest in a month. Before adjusting for seasonal factors, initial claims also rose, led by California and New York.
Also Read: China hits back at Trump with tariffs on US Goods, Google probe“Jobless claims continue to run at a relatively low level despite wildfires in California, layoffs at Boeing and an uptick in layoff announcements. While there are fewer opportunities for those who lose their jobs — a sign of labour-market cooling — overall sentiment among service providers and manufacturers has improved, a sign of stabilization,” said Eliza Winger,
Bloomberg Economist said.
Continuing claims, a proxy for the number of people receiving benefits, rose to 1.89 million in the week ended Jan. 25, according to Labor Department data released Thursday.
A separate report showed that labour productivity advanced at a firm pace in the fourth quarter, capping another year marked by efficiency gains that propelled economic growth.
US-based employers announced almost 50,000 cuts in January, the lowest count for the first month of the year since 2022, which itself was a record low, according to outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas.
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The numbers may pick up this month. Over the past week, several high-profile companies have said they planned to reduce their staff, including Workday Inc., General Motors Co. and Estée Lauder Cos.
“January was relatively quiet in terms of job cut announcements. However, we’ve already seen major announcements in the early days of February, so it seems this quiet is unlikely to last,” Andrew Challenger, senior vice president of Challenger, Gray & Christmas, said in a statement.
