By MATT OTT, Associated Press Business Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) — The number of Americans applying for unemployment benefits jumped last week, but remain in the same historically healthy range of the past few years despite growing concern over the health of the labor market.
U.S. jobless claim applications for the week ending Dec. 6 climbed by 44,000 to 236,000 from the previous week’s 192,000, the Labor Department reported Thursday. That’s more than analysts’ forecast of 213,000 new applications.
The previous week’s figure, analysts say, was distorted by the Thanksgiving holiday.
Applications for unemployment aid are viewed as a proxy for layoffs and are close to a real-time indicator of the health of the job market.
Despite what on the surface appears to be a historically healthy job market, the Federal Reserve trimmed its benchmark lending rate by a quarter-point on Wednesday, its third straight cut.
Fed Chair Jerome Powell said the committee reduced borrowing costs out of concern that the job market is even weaker than it appears. While government data shows that the economy has added a sluggish 40,000 jobs a month since April, Powell said that figure could be revised lower by as much as 60,000. That would mean employers have actually been shedding an average of 20,000 jobs a month since the spring.
“It’s a labor market that seems to have significant downside risks,” Powell told reporters. “People care about that. That’s their jobs.”
Jobless claims figures in recent years have remained in a historically healthy range, suggesting that overall layoffs have been muted despite some high-profile job cuts. Hiring is also sluggish, which makes finding a job for those out of work challenging.
For now, the U.S. job market appears stuck in a “low-hire, low-fire” state that has kept the unemployment rate historically low.
Last week, private payroll data firm ADP estimated U.S. job losses of 32,000 in November. The surprisingly weak report comports with recent government employment data, which has shown a significant decline in job growth since President Donald Trump implemented his sweeping tariffs on U.S. trading partners in April.
Though September had a solid gain of 119,000 jobs, June and August both showed net job losses. The unemployment rate has inched up to 4.4%, its highest level in four years.
November’s comprehensive jobs data has been delayed for release until next week due to the government shutdown.
Job cuts announced recently by large companies such as UPS, General Motors, Amazon and Verizon typically take weeks or months to fully implement and may not be reflected in Thursday’s data.
The total number of Americans filing for jobless benefits for the previous week ending Nov. 29 fell by 99,000 to 1.84 million, the government said. That’s the lowest level for continuing claims since mid-April, but some analysts said the plunge is due to a variety of factors, including seasonal adjustments and the fact that most people aren’t eligible for benefits after 26 weeks.
The Labor Department’s report Thursday showed that the four-week average of claims, which evens out some of the week-to-week volatility, rose by 2,000 to 216,750.
