Current:Home > MarketsUS applications for jobless benefits rise but remain historically low despite recent layoffs -ProgressCapital
US applications for jobless benefits rise but remain historically low despite recent layoffs
View
Date:2025-04-17 08:44:55
More Americans applied for jobless benefits last week, but layoffs remain historically low even as more high-profile companies have announced job cuts this year.
Applications for unemployment benefits rose by 13,000 to 215,000 for the week ending Feb. 24, the Labor Department reported Thursday. Last week’s number was revised up by 1,000 to 202,000.
In total, 1.9 million Americans were collecting jobless benefits during the week that ended Feb. 17, up 45,000 from the previous week and the most since November.
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.
The four-week average of claims, a less volatile measure, fell by 3,000 to 212,500 from the previous week.
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! (91)
Related
- Will the 'Yellowstone' finale be the last episode? What we know about Season 6, spinoffs
- Powerball winning numbers from Oct. 18 drawing: Jackpot at $70 million
- Workers at Mexico’s federal courts kick off 4-day strike over president’s planned budget cuts
- China is building up its nuclear weapons arsenal faster than previous projections, a US report says
- Audit: California risked millions in homelessness funds due to poor anti-fraud protections
- Electric truck maker Rivian says construction on first phase of Georgia factory will proceed in 2024
- $249M in federal grid money for Georgia will boost electric transmission and battery storage
- Stranded on the Eiffel Tower, a couple decide to wed, with an AP reporter there to tell the story
- Louisiana high court temporarily removes Judge Eboni Johnson Rose from Baton Rouge bench amid probe
- The Rolling Stones after six decades: We've got to keep going. When you've got it, flaunt it, you know?
Ranking
- Meet 11-year-old skateboarder Zheng Haohao, the youngest Olympian competing in Paris
- Federal forecasters predict warm, wet US winter but less snow because of El Nino, climate change
- Natalee Holloway's Harrowing Final Moments Detailed in Joran van der Sloot's Murder Confession
- More than 300 arrested in US House protest calling for Israel-Hamas ceasefire
- Tony Hawk drops in on Paris skateboarding and pushes for more styles of sport in LA 2028
- As Americans collected government aid and saved, household wealth surged during pandemic
- Jury selection set to begin in the first trial in the Georgia election case against Trump and others
- FBI: Thousands of remote IT workers sent wages to North Korea to help fund weapons program
Recommendation
Selena Gomez engaged to Benny Blanco after 1 year together: 'Forever begins now'
Liberia’s presidential election likely headed for a run-off in closest race since end of civil war
Travis King, solider who crossed border into North Korea, charged with desertion
Bottle of ‘most-sought after Scotch whisky’ to come under hammer at Sotheby’s in London next month
Senate begins final push to expand Social Security benefits for millions of people
Masha Amini, the Kurdish-Iranian woman who died in police custody, is awarded EU human rights prize
Feds OK natural gas pipeline expansion in Pacific Northwest over environmentalist protests
Marine killed in Camp Lejeune barracks and fellow Marine held as suspect, the base says