Justin Sullivan / Getty Images
Applications for U.S. unemployment benefits fell last week to their lowest level in months, offering another sign that layoffs remain muted despite a range of economic pressures.
Thursday's Labor Department report showed 209,000 new applications for the week ending May 16, a decline of 3,000 from the previous week. The result came in below the 213,000 that FactSet-surveyed analysts had expected. At 202,500, the four-week average — which irons out week-to-week swings — marked its lowest reading since 2024, Bloomberg noted, representing a 1,500-point drop.
Continuing claims, covering the week ending May 9, climbed to 1.78 million, an increase of 6,000.
Economists treat weekly claims data as a timely, if imperfect, gauge of how freely employers are cutting workers. Even so, the broader picture is one of stagnation: the so-called "low-hire, low-fire" dynamic has anchored the unemployment rate at 4.3% while making it harder for displaced workers to land new positions.
